Across the Universe
by Khadrimx
Summary: Pre-Avengers but Post Iron Man 2, anomalies across the tristate area are making things disappear, leaving chaos in its wake. Chunks of buildings, pieces of land, parts of parks. Scarlett Damien and Tony Stark get caught up in an adventure that transcends the universe as we know it. This is a sequel to my stories Glass Heart and Hollow Scars, but also a stand-alone read.
1. Tomorrow Never Knows

**Manhattan**

**New York**

**October**

The pavement of the jogging path was hardly abandoned as the last hints of sunlight faded over the New York horizon. Hues of orange and pink faded into blues and purples and then into blackness though no stars were visible thanks to the luminous glow of Manhattan in the evening. Winding her way between tourists heading back into the bustling city just beyond the trees, Scarlett Damien checked the time on her watch. Every night for the past two months she'd run through the park for an hour. The grass that lined the sidewalks changed to a sickly hue thanks to the chill in the air recently returning to the city thanks to the change in season.

Twenty minutes to go and then she could head back through the park, grab a coffee from a nearby street vendor to feed her caffeine addiction and then hail a cab that would take her back downtown. The area she lived in was usually reserved for Wall Street firms but considering her home doubled as her office, there had been an exception made. For Scarlett it had taken a long time to call the place home, since home was a term she'd deemed generally unfamiliar.

The past two months had been the longest Scarlett had ever spent in one place, at least since her youth in London with her parents. Until recently she had been a mercenary and her job had taken her all across the globe. Scarlett had always _hated_ the term mercenary but there wasn't a more accurate one out there for what she'd been. She only used it if she absolutely had to pick just _one_ word. Some referred to her as a spy, others as an assassin, and there were those that called her a thief or a murderer. None of them were wrong but none of them were right either. The English language was a complicated thing; there was no real word for what she'd been.

Scarlett suddenly made a turn off of her usual path, plotting a course further into Central Park. The crowd in front of her had been too daunting for that night so she chose to make another lap before she headed out for her daily coffee and caught a cab. Less crowded the further in she went, Scarlett easily lost track of time amongst the trees. She hadn't felt this good in months, maybe even longer than that.

It wasn't that Scarlett had been lazy about her exercise routine; far from that. The last year hadn't afforded her much of an opportunity to work on her physical stature, in fact it had done nothing but hinder it. Due to the nature of Scarlett's sketchy career, as far in the past as it seemed to now be, she had run into a bit of trouble. No, she'd run into too much trouble. _A bit_ didn't properly describe the tumultuous year. Her ex-boyfriend had set her up to work with a company that hid their violent acts of terrorism behind a mask of benevolence, claiming to have delivered medical care to third world countries. Since she had always had an affinity for medical work and the technology involved, it had been an easy fit.

Scarlett had discovered the hard way that her ex, Scott Aaronson, had been betraying her for years before that point. Everything from stealing her discoveries she'd kept written in a little notebook on her person and selling them under the table to setting her up on a job to be tortured and brutalized in a third world country. He definitely got bad-boyfriend-of-the-year award. Now that Scarlett knew the truth she didn't know how she ever ignored it.

Gritting her teeth she picked up her pace over the concrete and through some of the lesser populated paths through Central Park. The tourist crowd that frequented Manhattan regardless of the time or season was thinning out in search of restaurants for dinner. Maybe she _wouldn't_ go home in twenty minutes after all. She could simply keep running until her stress melted away into exhaustion.

Recovery had been a long and difficult path. But Scarlett had realized only the other day that she was _still_ recovering from the chaos that had unraveled in the last year. It hadn't helped that after her initial torture in Afghanistan and subsequent escape she had taken what she thought was a legitimate, _legal_ job and had instead been held against her will a second time and this time at the behest of her boyfriend. She'd been so blind to his motives that she'd practically ignored the signs. While at that time she hadn't thought it was Scott's fault and never would've suspected him, it had been his doing all the same.

One thing led to another and Scarlett thought Scott had died because of her actions. She had then been saved by the one and only Iron Man, the very man she thought was behind her captivity in the first place. That still ate away at her mind. How was it that MedCo, short for Medical Engineering Development Corporation, had gotten their hands on so much Stark Industries technology? It was one of the many things that had bore away at Scarlett's mind while she lay awake in bed at night next to the CEO of Stark Industries himself, Tony Stark.

She was still having a hard time believing that her relationship with the snarky billionaire, once the ultimate playboy, was working out as well as it truly was. She'd hated him for both his reputation and his hero act for the longest time and now she went home to him every night. They only _sort of_ lived together. Her romantic situation with Tony was as complicated as the last year had been.

It was best not to think about how it all happened, she thought as she pushed harder at her run, concentrating on the sounds of her footfalls against the old pavement that was desperately in need of repaving.

Despite the chaos that Scarlett's mind tangoed around outright thinking about her body had healed up nicely. She'd had a nasty case of pneumonia for weeks after having neglected her health in pursuit of MedCo and her ex-boyfriend but it had faded long ago. The other wounds she'd sustained, while most of them were nothing more than bruises and scrapes, had healed with time. Other than a few remaining scabs from a gunshot wound or beatings she preferred to keep off of the forefront of her mind, Scarlett was in fighting shape.

In comparison to years past Scarlett was in better shape than she could remember. Every day since she'd recovered enough from the pneumonia to function she'd spent her time training to get back the muscular structure she'd lost while being in captivity and while in pursuit of those at MedCo who had attempted to ruin her life. On top of that she began to make attempts to retain the rights to discoveries and developments she'd made over the years but had been torn from her possession right under her nose and sold for a profit. That meant lawyers and law suits, courts, and putting the painful betrayal in the limelight for everyone to scrutinize. When she wasn't trying to find pieces of her life scattered throughout the ashes of her bad decisions she was "working" with Tony Stark. What it really meant was that they were getting very little done since their romantic tension hadn't diminished with time.

Tony had been surprisingly helpful when it came to her legal troubles. Though Scarlett thought she shouldn't have been surprised by that considering that half of Tony's life had been legal troubles and dancing his way out of a court room without paying a fine. He'd given her access to his lawyers but she had insisted on paying the bill on her own which had been a fight to get her way on.

Tony was also a surprisingly generous boyfriend.

Scarlett shook the thoughts from her head and concentrated again on the pavement. That was why she liked running in the evening. There was nothing but her, the pavement and the occasional group of tourists that she had to run around. But even that was calming. Central Park was a little paradise hidden in Manhattan. Somehow walking through the grass, past the horse drawn carriages, and beyond the trees drowned out the craziness of the rest of the city.

Finally her attempts to drown out her thoughts had succeeded and all she concentrated on was her heart rate, the sound of the pavement and how it felt so damn _good_ to run her troubles away. Reaching into the pocket of her light sweater she turned the volume up on her mp3 player to further drown out the sounds of reality.

Her peaceful thoughts didn't last as long as she'd like when something, or rather _someone_, pushed her hard from behind. Nimbly Scarlett bounced from foot to foot, avoiding stumbling and falling over. Pulling the ear buds away, she let them dangle around her neck and watched a haggard looking man run past her, the gray hood of his dark sweatshirt falling away from his face. He was young but looked well past his age. Checking over his shoulder to see what he'd run into he flipped the middle finger then continued his run.

"Rude." Scarlett shook her head in dismay, running in place to keep her heart rate up while she was stopped. It wasn't the first time she had been practically run over by some kid not paying attention to where they were running on the path. But it _was_ the first time that someone had flipped her off when they'd nearly mowed _her_ down. There had been apologies, waves, and even some ignoring what they'd done but never aggression. The people of New York were generally friendly, if not particularly forward, people. Scarlett decided against teaching him a lesson and went on her way. What a way to ruin a perfectly good evening!

"Whatever." Scarlett rolled her eyes and went to put the ear buds back where they belonged so that she could drown out the annoyance with a sweet guitar song played by Jeff Beck. Pulling her long chocolate curls back into a proper ponytail she was instantly relieved she hadn't pursued the young man. The runner already from her mind even though she could still see him on the path in front of her, Scarlett smiled instead at the memory of Tony having replaced all of her music with Ozzy Osbourne tracks a few weeks ago. He knew how little she cared for Black Sabbath and had apparently gotten bored while waiting for her to get ready one night before dinner. It had been a very unpleasant surprise during her run and had cut it short since she couldn't tolerate it. Tony had been nothing but amused.

"Scarlett!" A familiar voice called from behind Scarlett and she stopped just short of putting her ear buds back. The dulcet tones of Jeff's guitar were so close and yet still so far. It was a voice she knew she wouldn't be able to ignore no matter how she tried or how much she wanted to. "Stop that guy! Catch him! Don't let him get away!"

For a brief second Scarlett considered at least trying to ignore the voice but her newly formed conscience wouldn't let her. Damn moral compass, why did it suddenly decide to point north? There was no avoiding what would come next. So Scarlett let the ear buds dangle around her neck and ran after the man who had nearly knocked her off of the pavement. It seemed she'd be teaching him a lesson after all. Picking up her pace, Scarlett shoved the dangling wires into her pocket so they wouldn't be ruined or get in the way.

"Damnit, Barton!" Scarlett shouted toward the voice behind her, focusing on the man in front of her who was quickly making his way out of the park. The path was dimly lit now that the sun had completely disappeared over the horizon. She hadn't realized just how long she'd been running.

"Sorry!" Scarlett cut through the grass, jumping over some of the bushes that were in her way, careful not to trip as she increased her speed in attempts to catch up with the man that Clint was pursuing. Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye, was an agent working for S.H.I.E.L.D., a corporation that claimed they were making attempts to _save the world_. Scarlett hardly believed that any big shadow government agency such as the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, had such benevolent intentions as great a notion as it was. Hawkeye was the best marksmen around, or so it had been claimed, Scarlett hadn't seen that side of him in her experience though she only doubted it because it irritated him that she did.

"Don't lie to me!" Scarlett panted as she ran, following the young man out of the park and through the streets of Manhattan into an area that Scarlett wasn't familiar with. She usually stayed to her side of the park and then made her way back into the bustle of Midtown so she could catch a cab or hop on the subway.

Clint Barton, short cropped blond hair, blue eyes with a stocky build came running through the park, strides behind Scarlett now but still close enough that she could hear and see him if she glanced over her shoulder. Red in the face, Clint looked like he had a bruise forming around his eye and as though he'd been chasing this particular fellow for quite some time. Scarlett would have to help him.

Again.

This was _not_ the first time Clint Barton had interrupted her day with a bang. The last time she had been on her way out of a meeting with her lawyer and had been practically struck by a stray arrow. Yeah, Clint was _that_ kind of marksman. It had ended bloody and very public though Scarlett couldn't deny that she'd had fun.

"I thought I told you that I don't work for S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Scarlett followed the younger man through the twists and turns of Manhattan streets and alleyways. The man they were pursuing through the streets seemed to be familiar with the area. Scarlett knew that was likely bad news for the both of them. Clint, in street clothes and not the maroon and black S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform Scarlett was accustomed to seeing him in, caught up to her but was breathing harder than ever.

"I know! I know you're not _but_ I happened to see you in the area and I could use the help!" Clint panted, nodding toward the alleyway. "See you on the other side!"

"He's smarter than that!" Scarlett shouted after Clint but he was already gone. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been trying for months, ever since her incident with MedCo in Russia, to employ her but she had declined the offer on every occasion. Scarlett saw the offer as an attempt to control a loose cannon. They didn't want people like Scarlett running wild out in the world, people with superior skills and intellect. It wasn't that Scarlett had any inhuman skills it was what she did with the skills she _did_ have that made her a threat.

That was the real purpose of S.H.I.E.L.D. or at least that's what Scarlett had guessed it was. She assumed it was handy for people who weren't purpose driven like Clint or a few of the others that Scarlett had met in passing but couldn't recall names (though she was sure there was a Peter Parker which she thought was a hilarious name so _had_ remembered). But for people like Tony and like her they didn't _need_ anyone trying to control them, in fact the attempts to control them only forced them to further rebel and to cause more chaos.

It was true that Scarlett had caused a considerable amount of destruction over the years, but she was doing her best to make amends for that now in her own way. She didn't want S.H.I.E.L.D. holding her hand through the process or telling her what she could and couldn't do. Sometimes Scarlett did the opposite of what she was asked to do just to let people know that she could do _whatever the hell_ she wanted. The only difference was that S.H.I.E.L.D. had the power to put her in prison if she didn't cooperate.

It didn't seem to matter to some S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives whether or not she was employed by the agency or not. Such as the Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, who was an old colleague of Scarlett's and Hawkeye who she'd been introduced to in Moscow a few months ago when she'd been at her worst. They had managed to involve her in S.H.I.E.L.D. business and personal business at every opportunity. It was both endearing and horribly annoying.

Scarlett looped around a trash can on the corner of the street, jumped on a concrete barrier left over a grating above the subway. The man in the hooded sweatshirt ducked out of the alleyway, hoping to fake out his pursuers and instead nearly ran straight into Scarlett. With a yelp he tried to shove her out of the way.

Grabbing his arm she twisted him around and shoved him hard against the wall. Coughing from the force of the impact, the man twisted away, slid out of the hooded sweater that had gotten him caught and ran past Scarlett, jumping over the same barrier that Scarlett had leapt over only seconds ago. Holding onto the sweater in case Clint needed it, Scarlett turned and ran after him.

"Duck!" Clint yelled and the whistling of an arrow rang past her.

"What the hell?" The man shouted in surprise when the arrow narrowly missed him. It wasn't everyday that people were pursued by an archer in the middle of Manhattan.

"I told you!" Scarlett shouted to Clint who was running behind her again, having jumped from the fire escape in the alleyway that he'd suspected the man would run into but had faked them out on instead.

"We can't let him go, hold onto that jacket if you can! It might have evidence!" Clint grumbled under his breath about running this much not being part of his job description.

"What did this kid do?"

"I was under cover!" Clint gritted his teeth, doing his best to keep up with Scarlett. It was obvious that cardio was not part of his usual exercise regimen. Given that he was generally a long range fighter, he obviously didn't anticipate getting into any high speed pursuits outside of a car.

"That explains why you look ridiculous."

"Ridiculous? This is more ridiculous than what I _usually_ wear?" Clint laughed behind her the tension immediately easing.

"Yes." Scarlett realized it would explain why she hadn't seen Clint for weeks and why it had mostly been Natasha that had been interrupting her at weird times of the day in futile attempts to get her to join up with S.H.I.E.L.D. "What did this guy do that warranted a S.H.I.E.L.D. undercover sting operation?"

"Drug trafficking! This asshole has been pushing dangerous substances around the neighborhood and we needed to find out who he was getting them from! Cover was blown while collecting evidence. Long story short, he wasn't where he was reported to be and they suspected me from the get go. Can't let him go now or all that work is going to go to waste!"

"We have to corner him. It's the only way." Scarlett nodded toward the man who was seemingly panicking and getting sloppier. He couldn't run forever and she guessed that even though Clint wasn't prepared for running, the man they were pursuing wasn't in nearly as good shape as either of them. "Drug trafficking seems a little out of S.H.I.E.L.D. territory, Clint. What's the rest of the story?"

"This isn't pot or even heroin, Scarlett" Clint grunted, looking at his options. "I'll scare him back around into the alleyway, you cut around."

"What's the drug then? Has to be nasty…"

"I'll tell you later! Out… of… breath!" Clint waved her off and started running in the opposite direction. Scarlett wasn't sure that his idea would work but it was better than continuing their pursuit. She'd already been at it for long enough and her legs were starting to feel like jelly. It would be a wonder if she was able to properly stand the next morning after running for so long.

"God damnit, Barton…" Scarlett cursed under her breath and slipped into the alleyway that Clint had pointed out between two stores that had already closed their doors for the evening. She hadn't bothered to look at what they were. Stopping, Scarlett hunched over and caught her breath then flattened herself against the wall to avoid revealing her position with her shadow. Once this was over with, she would be able to catch her breath and possibly smack Clint on the back of his head.

Footsteps signaled their approach. She could hear the sound of another arrow whistling past nearby. Clint very rarely missed his target; he was missing this guy on purpose in hopes of directing his run which was clever but Scarlett wasn't sure that this kid wouldn't see through it. Then again they'd been running for a long time and even longer before they'd run into Scarlett. It was possible that he would be too tired to be on the lookout for a clever maneuver.

Scarlett took the sweatshirt she'd swiped and hid it behind the trashcan nearest to her before continuing her wait. Sure enough, seconds later the young man came running around the corner in hopes of throwing off Clint.

Before the runner had realized what hit him, Scarlett clothes lined him. He fell flat onto his back, the wind knocked out of him on the concrete. Clint came running from behind, holding onto the black bow that he'd been using to guide his target.

Leaning over the man on the ground who was holding a stitch in his side and coughing, Clint grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him close.

"You little shit!" Clint made attempts to catch his breath, folding up the retractable bow and slipping it over his back and into his quiver. Then he swung at the young man, knocking him back on the ground and giving him a black eye to match the one that was forming around his own eye. "Scarlett, good going! Check his pockets."

"Uh, Clint?" Scarlett had been about to help him pull the young man to his feet but had stopped when several men had come creeping out of the shadows, none looking too pleased with them.

"I don't _run_ asshole, do you hear me? You have me chasing you all through the damn park and you think I'm not going to punch you in the face?" Clint threw his fist into the young man's face again but he only laughed in response. "Don't laugh at me! Scarlett he's _laughing_ what the hell did you do to him?"

"Clint." Scarlett grabbed his shoulder and forced him to pay attention to her. Wild blue eyes met hers, adrenaline and rash decisions obviously on the forefront of his thoughts.

"What?" There was no need for her to respond once he saw the dozen or so men that had emerged from the shadows of the alleyway and from the street. The success faded from his features and was replaced by dread. "Oh, _that._"

"Narc. Rat. Fucking _cop_." The bloodied man on the ground spat at Clint and then got to his feet with the aid of one of the men who had entered the alleyway.

"I told you he was too smart for this." Scarlett whispered under her breath.

"He lured _us_ here. Didn't see that coming."

"He lured _you_ here, I saw it coming." Scarlett pursed her lips. "I was just out for my run, this is your fault."

"I would've hated for you to miss out on all this fun."

"What a _gentleman_." Scarlett took deep breaths in hopes of shaking off the exhaustion.

"That's me." Clint smiled then spoke to the group of men who had surrounded them and now watched them skeptically. "So… how long have you known?"

"Long enough." The thick Brooklyn accent of a scarred up man on the right met them. "You're gonna pay. Traitors lose their tongue."

"Well, I like my tongue so we'll see about that. You see this is my good friend here and she's pretty pissed off that I interrupted her jog through the park. She's angry enough to take you all out, I think." Clint nodded toward Scarlett who rolled her eyes. "We really do need to come up with a name for you. My pointing and gesturing doesn't quite do it justice."

"I told you, I don't do nicknames. I'm not twelve, _Hawkeye_." The gangsters watched the conversation, exchanging confused and wary glances. Some of them laughed at Clint's threat obviously not taking it very seriously. Scarlett wasn't sure that Clint should be bragging about her then and there. A dozen to two were pretty dreadful odds, even if they were particularly skilled at what they did. It was likely these men didn't come unarmed.

"Oh come on, they're _fun_, even Natasha has one. Black Widow is bad ass, we can come up with something just as cool for you."

"Enough!" The scarred man stepped forward, tired of the mocking conversation. "Teach him a lesson boys. Stay out of this little lady and I'll spare you. I don't like to hit _girls_."

"That's a shame because I have no problem hitting boys." Scarlett tilted her head to the side and glared at him. "Clint."

"Now?" He responded knowingly, the bow removed from his quiver at once. Scarlett nodded her head, hoping that Clint would get somewhere high above, so he had a better vantage point and could stop their assailants easier. He was instantly more useful when he was a flight higher than everyone else.

The scarred man, angry as can be, and waved his hand to signal to his men. With a yell, the gangsters ran toward them, sure that they had outnumbered the traitor and the woman he'd picked up in the park. The man closest to Clint removed a switchblade from his pocket and swung wildly at him. Clint snapped his bow open with a flick of his wrist and smacked away the hand that held the knife though he didn't drop the blade. With another artful spin of his bow he'd successfully made the man stumble toward Scarlett.

The gangsters didn't seem to want to hurt Scarlett, which played to her advantage at first. It was unbelievably stupid for them to hold back simply because she was a woman. When he nearly ran into her after losing his footing, Scarlett grabbed the gangster by the arm that held the knife, spun him around and then smashed him face first into the wall, holding the back of his head with a yell. There was an audible wince from the other gangsters as their comrade fell to the ground with a thud. Scarlett kicked the knife far out of his reach in case he came too before they were finished.

So much for a peaceful evening run through the park.

"You bitch!" The scarred man, the leader of the group, rushed toward Scarlett, obviously aggravated with her and no longer afraid to hit a woman as he had claimed. When he made a sloppy grab for her, Scarlett ducked low out of his reach, clenched her fist then hit him hard in the stomach before kicking him backwards.

"You wanted to see how hard a girl can hit, how's it feel now buddy?" Scarlett stood back up and braced herself for a fight. Thankfully for her, and for Clint at that matter, Scarlett rather _liked_ fighting. She was good at it and it was more fun than she was willing to admit. What she _didn't_ like was the fact that these guys were likely armed and willing to play dirty.

"I warned you guys!" Clint shouted over his shoulder, swinging his bow around toward the next gang member who came toward him. The bow string snapped open and with it he pulled the assailant closer to him, catching him by surprise. He then swung the gangster around with the momentum built and released him stumbling into another gang member who came at him with brass knuckles on each hand. The bow still had an advantage, since the assailants didn't seem to know what to do with it.

"Get to your advantage!" Scarlett shouted over the grunting chaos of the fight.

A man to his left punched and Clint dodged then made an attempt to jump and grab the fire escape. His fingers clutched the ladder before he was grabbed around the waist and pulled away from it. The ladder slid downward with a metallic crash. As he got to his feet another attacker grabbed his shirt and pulled him backwards away from the ladder. He smashed his hand into the assailant's nose and was released, then dodged left and right to avoid further attacks from another. Sliding away from the group he pressed a few buttons on the grip of his bow which triggered his quiver that would change the heads of his arrows. As quickly as he'd slid away, Clint then had an arrow in his hand which he pulled back into the bow and aimed at the man closest to him.

The bow hit its target, not puncturing through flesh but rather gripping at it with a claw and then releasing a strong electrical jolt that would knock him straight into unconsciousness. It was better than a stun gun. The man twitched and screamed in pain, falling back into the one behind him and knocking them both to the ground, twitching and unconscious.

"Two birds with one stone." Clint smirked but then yelped in surprise when another assailant grabbed his quiver which twisted easily off of his shoulder and threw it aside. Clint snapped the bow closed and then threw it over his shoulder, allowing the string to wrap around his chest. With a running leap he took down the man who had stolen his quiver, knocking them both straight into a third man who Scarlett had been blocking and getting ready to knock out. "You're welcome!"

"You almost hit _me_!"

"But I didn't so there's that." Clint wrestled with the man beneath him. Scarlett made to assist but instead had to jump left in order to avoid a wild swing from another assailant armed with a knife. When he swung again Scarlett smacked the back of his wrist to throw off his swing which successfully made him stumble forward. Watching his hands to make sure he wouldn't hit her in her next move, Scarlett swatted his hand upward, throwing him off guard, then slipped between the man's legs, sliding on the concrete. "That's more like it!" Clint cheered her on while grabbing the man beneath him in a headlock.

Once behind him Scarlett kicked him hard in the back of his knee and he fell forward, the knife clattering to the ground. On her feet as quickly as she had been on her knees, Scarlett was shoved by another attacker. Turning quickly she grabbed his fist to throw off the next blow which he never made. She twisted his arm and then ducked low and pulled him over her shoulder, making him land on his back on the ground with a sickening thud in a puddle of what Scarlett could only hope was water. Then she kicked him hard in the ribs in hopes of knocking the wind out of him and rendering him useless.

The man who she'd knocked in the knees had retrieved his knife and swung at her again, forcing her to jump backwards out of the way of the blade or get slashed apart. Unfortunately behind her had been another assailant and the two went stumbling to the ground. Before the man with the blade could go after Scarlett, Clint grabbed his wrist, pinched at his tendons and twisted hard until he was forced to drop the knife. Clint kicked the blade far out of the way so it wouldn't be easily retrieved. But the man who once had the knife used his free arm to grab Clint by the back of his shirt and threw him against the nearby brick wall with a crash.

Scarlett was lifted completely off the ground by the man she'd fallen into. He was built like a tank and she guessed had about as much brains. Each blow she'd blocked was sure to leave a bruise. Grabbing onto his thumb, Scarlett twisted it and pressed her fingers on the pressure point just below, being released but also falling hard onto the ground. The tank tried to stomp on her and knock her out of the way but Scarlett quickly slid across the concrete, rolling out of the way of each blow.

It would take more than a few throws and blows to knock this guy out so Scarlett tried to calculate what needed to be done instead. Her best bet was to suffocate him into unconsciousness but making her way to his head would be no easy feat. Dodging another kick, Scarlett slid to the side and grabbed his leg, finding the pressure point in his tendon on his ankle. He fell to the ground on one knee with a howl of pain. Scarlett climbed quickly onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck but it was so thick that she knew she wouldn't be able to manage. So with a kick against the wall behind her, Scarlett leapt onto his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his neck. One hand over his nose, the other over his mouth, Scarlett squeezed until finally he gave into the wooziness that quickly came over him and fell to the ground.

"The bigger they are… Clint you're missing a pun!"

Scarlett leapt off of his shoulders before he fell and then stumbled backwards as the swing of a baseball bat barely missed her. Quickly she glanced over her shoulder to see if Clint was nearby and if he was okay. Unfortunately it looked like he'd gotten in over his head and was taking on three much bigger guys and getting the hell pummeled out of him. She winced as she saw one of them punch him hard in the stomach and him bend forward with the force, gagging.

As the batter came swinging at her again, Scarlett jumped out of the way of the bat, then grabbed the swinger's arm as he came back to swing again and stopped him from pulling it for more force. With a jab she smashed the bat out of his hand, the handle crashing into his stomach. Coughing and gagging, he stared up at Scarlett with wide surprised eyes. Taking the now loose bat, Scarlett flipped it around in her hands and swung it hard against the batter's back, forcing him to the ground. If she'd hit him any harder she was sure birds would've flown circles around his head. The wood of the bat cracked under the pressure but Scarlett kept it with her anyway. Even broken it was useful.

Sneaking past one of the men coming to provide backup to his batter friend, Scarlett pulled the bat around the front of the man in the middle delivering the blows to Clint and pressed it hard against his windpipe. When he choked and sputters, Scarlett swung the bat around and removed it from his neck, allowing the man to fall back onto the ground. Swinging the bat at the man to Clint's left it cracked over his back and split into two. Scarlett threw it behind her, useless. She didn't want to _kill_ any of the assailants, just give them a good beating.

No longer pinned down by the man in the middle, Clint head butted the guy on his right who fell backwards. Scarlett grabbed him as he fell and twisted him around then ducked low to knock his legs out from beneath him. When he hit the ground she hit him hard in the throat, knocking him out. Clint winced as he watched her work, holding the sore spot on his stomach.

"You should be the Killer Bee because that _stung_." Scarlett laughed and shook her head.

"I guess you didn't break a rib then? That was _so_ bad." Making a move to help him retrieve his quiver, Scarlett was surprised when someone came running at her from the side. The scarred man, yelling at the top of his lungs out of anger, ran right into Scarlett tackling her and sending them both flying through the door that cracked under the pressure, and right inside the shop.

"Scarlett!" Clint grabbed his quiver and threw it over his back where it belonged then leapt over where the scarred man now lay on top of Scarlett trying to gather his bearings after their fall. The door broken in behind the counter of the shop triggered an alarm that began ringing loudly, lights flashing to alert those outside that the store was being robbed. At the sound of the alarm a few of the gang members seemed frightened and decided that the fight wasn't worth time in jail and ran off. But a handful of those that had been knocked to the ground had woken up and were angry, rejoining the fray.

Quickly Clint pulled the scarred man up by his collar and threw him toward the counter that they were behind. He fell face first into the cash register which crashed open with a comical ding, but scratched up his face in the process.

"I'm fine!" Getting back onto her feet Scarlett dusted herself off and went to help Clint with the scarred man but was pulled back out the door she'd been thrown through by two of the men who had gotten up to join the battle. Turning and grabbing onto the frame of the door, Scarlett spun around and kicked one of them in the face. He fell backwards but the second man continued to grab at her. Still using the frame of the doorway to her advantage, Scarlett jumped up and wrapped her legs around the shoulders of the second man, pulling him into the store and then kicking him face first onto the floor. Jumping from where she held herself up, she straddled the man now on the ground and rolled him onto his back before punching him hard in the jaw, her knuckles now bloodied and sore.

"Hey, Scarlett!" Clint knocked the scarred man in the face and then elbowed him in the face.

"Kind of busy!" She responded, but threw a glance toward him to make sure he was alright.

"It's important!"

"Why do I doubt that?"

"We're in a pharmacy!"

"No shit!" Scarlett looked around, realizing that they actually _were_ in a pharmacy which seemed pretty funny considering the whole reason they were in this situation in the first place was of a medicinal nature. Mid-laugh Clint was grabbed by the scarred man and thrown right over the counter with a yelp. Rolling backwards in an attempt to regain his stature without falling, Clint ended up bumping right into the shelves that lined the store filled with various over the counter medications. Making mad attempts to grab the shelves to keep them from falling was futile. Clint fell forward with the first shelf which then crashed into the next and caused a chain reaction. Like dominos the shelves collapsed on one another, leaving a helter-skelter mess throughout the building.

Wincing as she watched the shelves collapse one on top of the other, Scarlett stood on her tip toes, even though she didn't need the extra height to try and catch a glimpse of Clint in the mess.

"Good job, Barton." Once Clint stumbled to his feet and rubbed his head, Scarlett was sure that he was okay. He didn't look off of his game, just a little disoriented from having made such a mess.

"Aren't you just a _little_ concerned for my head?"

"No way, it's too hard to be damaged by that little fall. You'll be fine." Clint laughed, exhaling out of his nose making a comical sound. From the doorway, Scarlett was tackled onto the counter. But she'd known that they were left alone for too long and had been on her guard so prepared herself for a blow. Grabbing onto the end of the counter, she pulled herself over it much to the surprise of the man who had been trying to tackle her. He flopped onto the counter like a fish when she disappeared from his grasp.

Scarlett took him by the back of his shirt then threw him off of the counter and into the mess that Clint had made only seconds prior. Clint stood and watched her, surprised that she'd so nimbly escaped.

"Very nice, Killer Bee."

"That is not and never will be my name, but thank you." Scarlett dusted her hands off of on her exercise shorts even though they wouldn't come clean so easily.

"If you want something darker you could be the Raven." Clint aimed an arrow at one of the men behind the counter, watching him stumble blindly and trip over someone already knocked unconscious on the floor.

"Let it go already!" Scarlett ducked when one of the men came at her from behind the counter, trying to throw a punch at her. He'd been knocked around so much already that he was dizzy and his aim was dreadful. While Scarlett and Clint had been knocked around as well they'd both been trained to handle taking a beating and to still be on their guard. As talented as these thugs were when it came to taking care of themselves they didn't have the skill that the assassins had.

"Think about it, you can quote Edgar Allan Poe every time you do something cool."

"What is this, CSI: Miami? Come on, Barton." Scarlett couldn't help but laugh at the mental image of her dressed all in black with a feathery cloak, quoting the Tell-Tale Heart after having taken out a number of villains.

"It isn't but it _could_ be. I've got some sunglasses in my pocket." Clint smirked then peered around Scarlett, surprised that they weren't overrun by gangsters. The store alarm was still ringing loudly and annoyingly. Scarlett caught sight of shadows moving behind Clint and widened her eyes before taking cover.

"Get down!" She shouted and Clint didn't hesitate to jump behind the debris of the shelves that had been knocked over. Large heavy barrels, turning out to be trash cans, crashed through the front windows of the pharmacy, showering glass every which way over Clint and over Scarlett who had ducked behind what remained of the shelves that didn't provide nearly enough cover.

The scarred man, in the confusion, had climbed out of the rubble and started after Clint again, throwing punches at him. Clint blocked them with his arms and then kicked him away. Scarlett was on her feet again, but knew that they were far outnumbered and worse off than they had been through the entire fight. The men she thought had run away cowering from the alarm had in reality gone to retrieve weapons that they could have an advantage with.

"Barton, we're in trouble." Clint stepped over the rubble and met her in the middle of the store near the half destroyed counter. Standing back to back with her he pulled his bow out again, opening it with a skilled flick of his wrist. The men scattered about the brutalized pharmacy were getting to their feet at the behest of their leader who circled around to the front windows, bleeding from a cut near his eye, his lip puffy and swollen from the beating he'd taken.

There were six men at the windows of the pharmacy, each holding a handgun or a shotgun of a variety of makes and models. Scarlett looked toward the back of the store and saw three more men holding various short range weapons, including half of the baseball bat she'd earlier broken on the backs of one of them.

"Mid-back." Clint whispered. Scarlett stood back to back with him and reached behind Clint where she felt that underneath his shirt in a hidden holster he had a handgun in case of emergencies. Removing it from the holster quickly she cocked it and readied herself for a shoot out.

"Street lights." She whispered. If they could disorient the attackers then they would be able to get away, maybe.

"Smoke." Clint nodded toward the quiver on his back filled with various arrowheads, each with a different ability that could work to their advantage. To think that only a little while ago Scarlett's biggest worry had been finding a cab to take her back to Stark Tower.

"On three." Scarlett calculated their odds and they weren't great, but she'd faced worse in the last few months alone. In the back of her mind she wondered just how mad Tony would be when he found out how her afternoon had gone. Tony Stark didn't like missing out on the action and not being the center of it. Then again, he was the one who insisted he couldn't come running with her because they'd spend more time giving autographs than they would exercising which Scarlett found ridiculous.

Before Clint began to count sirens could be heard rounding the corner. The alarm had alerted the police to the break in and in the moments that past they had become aware of the blow out that had occurred in the alleyway. Someone must have phoned in a tip about the fight.

"Hands up!" The voices of cops outside on the street echoed throughout the store. Scarlett relaxed her shoulders as the men on either side of them held up their hands and promptly dropped their weapons. Even the gang members knew that they wouldn't make it out of there if they fought and the charges would be even worse than they were already. Scarlett rested her hand with the gun down then turned to give it back to Clint who took it gratefully.

"Come on, right here!" Clint held up his hand for a high five which Scarlett looked at skeptically. Seconds later she reconsidered and gave him a high five. That was until the cops pointed their weapons at them and told them to freeze.

"Sir, put down the weapon! Ma'am step away from him!"

"You guys don't understand." Clint started forward, making no attempt to drop either the gun or his bow.

"Stand down! I said stand down!" The police officers held up their weapons and aimed them all at Clint who froze in place and held his hands up on either side of him as a gesture of peace, his eyebrows so high on his forehead he could've sold the space on his eyelids for advertising

"Clint, I suggest you stand down." Scarlett looked at him knowingly, trying desperately to keep a straight face. It was a priceless moment, at least until they turned their aim to Scarlett.

"On the ground! Both of you get on your knees!" Scarlett knew they had no other choice. It didn't matter how much they objected or how long they tried to convince them that they were the good guys, it wouldn't matter until they got clearance from S.H.I.E.L.D.

For all the cops knew, they were just as guilty as the gangsters they had been taking refuge from. Clint looked knowingly to Scarlett then put down both of the weapons he had, kicking them away from him. After that he got on his knees and placed his hands behind his head. Scarlett did the same, what else _could_ she do?

It was just another evening spent with Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye.


	2. And Your Bird Can Sing

_[[Missed you guys! Thanks for reading!]]_

"Well, _that_ was fun." Clint pushed the front doors of the precinct open and held them for Scarlett. Stopping in the doorway, Scarlett threw him a skeptical glance as if to ask how on earth that was fun. Around Clint's right eye was forming a nasty bruise from the fight, dark shades of blue and purple on swollen skin. Considering the beating he'd taken in the alleyway he was lucky there wasn't much worse than that. Scarlett's lower lip was puffy, split, and black with dried blood but aside being disheveled and sore, she felt just fine.

Clint watched her walk away and followed down the front steps after her when she didn't respond to his quip. His legs, feeling still like jelly from the lengthy pursuit of the persistent gang member, he barely made it down the steps in one piece.

"Don't be like that Raven, it _was_ fun."

"Oh yes, I very much enjoy spending half my night in lock up while your superiors at S.H.I.E.L.D. argue with the local PD about our release and dropping the assault charges. Don't forget the breaking and entering charges! Particularly I enjoyed this because I _work_ for said department and will be paid, oh _wait…_" Despite the bite in Scarlett's voice she didn't actually _seem_ particularly angry. Clint was easy to screw with, since at times he seemed to take things far more literally than intended. "Also, I told you that I don't do nicknames."

"It didn't take _that_ long and thanks to you we got what we needed. It was a successful mission! Good thinking hiding that sweatshirt before we were ambushed, by the way. S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to retrieve it and collect evidence against those thugs. Hopefully they'll be able to leverage one of them into talking since the undercover operation is pretty much blown."

"Clint, it took four hours for S.H.I.E.L.D. to straighten things out. It's nearly tomorrow already." Scarlett checked her phone and then waved it at him as if to prove her point. She couldn't deny that she'd done a good job on this particular mission. The point was that it wasn't _her_ mission in the first place.

"Okay, so that part wasn't very fun. But you have to admit we work _pretty_ well together!" Clint laughed, catching up to her so he could walk in stride with her. A smile crept over her lips to betray the annoyance in her tone.

"That is _beside_ the point, Barton."

"Of course it's the point. You had fun. Admit it! You miss being a bad ass and I have done nothing but provide you with ample opportunity to do just that. You're welcome. For the bad-assery opportunities." Clint bowed comically while they walked down the dark, empty sidewalk toward the stairway on the corner that would lead them underground to the complex Manhattan subway system.

"The _point_ you're missing is that I don't work with you, Clint." Scarlett started down the steps and Clint whimpered as he watched her. His legs still felt like noodles. Instead, he grabbed onto the railing and took each step slowly and one at a time. At the bottom of the stairs Scarlett turned to wait for him, one hand on her hip and a bemused look across her face. "You really need to work on your cardio, that wasn't _that_ long of a run."

"I don't usually run, I usually aim and shoot. My name is Hawkeye and not Marathon Man for a reason." Clint made it to the bottom of the steps and then posed with his hands on his hips, proud that he'd made it without tripping over his rubbery legs.

"That's exactly why you should _run_ more, right? Since you already get all the practice you need aiming and shooting since that's what you _do_. You should work on your weaknesses not your strengths." Scarlett laughed continuing onto the subway platform a few feet ahead. Four or five other people waited for the train that would take them downtown but paid Clint and Scarlett no mind even though they were scraped up and disheveled. That was New York in a nutshell. Seeing crazy things on the side of the road or in the subways meant nothing. Insanity was a normal part of everyday living on the streets of Manhattan.

"I guess you're right." Clint sighed dramatically but then nudged her arm. "You know if you _did_ work for S.H.I.E.L.D. then tonight could've been worth big money for you."

"And you know that if I _wanted_ to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. I wouldn't have told Nick Fury to fuck off when he asked me to. Though he didn't ask as much as he did threaten me." Scarlett countered, watching the dark tunnel for any sign of the next train.

"Just think about it at least."

"No." Scarlett shook her head. Even though she objected, it had become a serious discussion in the back of her mind. Working for S.H.I.E.L.D. would have its perks. It was true she had told Nick Fury that she wasn't interested when he'd shown up in her hospital room in Moscow two months ago. Life had been different then. After weeks of chasing down her ex-boyfriend and the duo that ran MedCo and ruined her life, Marcia Edmonton and Mikhail Ivanov, Scarlett hadn't trusted _anyone_. S.H.I.E.L.D. was a greedy corporation just like any other she'd dealt with. While their motives may have appeared to be far purer than MedCo's she still saw them for what they were.

Often villains were the heroes of their own stories.

Who decided what was right and what was wrong?

MedCo had been hoping to create an army of super soldiers through their efforts. Their motives could've been for the greater good in the beginning. It was the means to get to their goal that made them the malevolent force they had become. Vision often obscured the line of morality. S.H.I.E.L.D. aimed to take down terrorist organizations, guide people with special abilities, and supposedly save the world. But what gave S.H.I.E.L.D. the right to choose the villains and the heroes? Saving the world wasn't as simple as they made it out to be. Different people had different views on what needed to be done to save humanity.

Scarlett wasn't a hero, of that she was certain. Yes, she was of far above average intelligence and knew how to kill a man in more ways than the everyday person but what about that made her special enough to be a hero? Nothing. The only thing Scarlett could hope to do with her special skills was redeem herself for the evils she'd committed in the past. Years as a mercenary had left a trail of blood behind her miles long. Even if she could make up for a quarter of atrocities she'd committed she would consider herself lucky.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was willing to give her the means to right those wrongs and for that she was truly considering joining their ranks with a long list of terms and conditions. As often as she told Natasha and Clint she wasn't interested, it was far from the truth. The only reason she continued to argue with them was out of principle. They had annoyingly harassed her for the last two months about joining them and she wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of knowing their attempts had worked. She was not going to encourage their bad behavior.

Scarlett could feel the soreness in her back creeping up on her from being thrown through a doorway thanks to the man standing next to her. That was a giant reminder as to why she objected so severely to their manipulations. Cocking her head from left to right, Scarlett stretched her back in hopes of relieving the soreness she felt. As the subway train approached the platform, Clint watched her curiously.

"Back hurt?"

"I was thrown through a door. If it didn't hurt I'd probably have bigger problems." Scarlett waited for the doors of the train to open. No one was coming off of the subway so she stepped inside and took the nearest seat. Clint sat next to her, but turned sideways in his seat so he could face her.

"I'm sorry!" Comically he pouted and batted his eyelashes, which had very little effect. He had absolutely no feminine touch and there was nothing childish about his face despite his personality. Still it was funny enough for Scarlett to offer a smile as a consolation prize.

"You don't live downtown." Scarlett spoke up a few minutes into the ride when Clint didn't get off the train to catch another going in a different direction.

"I'm walking you home." Clint nodded in the vague direction of where her home was.

"Oh." Scarlett considered this proposal then nodded her head. "Thanks." It wasn't that she _needed_ someone to walk her home but it was kind of Clint to keep her company along the way. He was a good guy and he'd made a kind gesture so who was she to tell him that it wasn't his place to walk her home?

"It's the least that I could do after dragging you into my mess."

"At least you know what you did. Acceptance is the first step."

The rest of the ride downtown was spent in comfortable silence. Both riders were too tired to argue much or even to joke around as they usually did. Clint was a good friend, despite how often he got her into trouble. Most days they could babble on about any old topic, though their favorites were bad horror films and concerts they'd seen in the past. They'd even joked about going to see some shows in the city but those plans had never come to fruition. In reality, they were both far too busy to put aside that kind of time. Not to mention chaos seemed to find them at every turn. The last thing they needed was to put a room filled with sweaty concert goers in harm's way.

By the time they reached Scarlett's stop the subway car had emptied leaving only Clint and Scarlett to exit. They walked out of the subway and onto the dark streets above.

"You owe me _so_ much pizza. It's seriously not even funny how much pizza you owe me. Brooklyn pizza too, don't you get me that nasty chain stuff." Scarlett shoved her hands in her pockets, absentmindedly making sure that she had her cell phone and her mp3 player stowed away safely after the fight in the alleyway. Clint was glad that the tense silence was finally broken and chuckled heartily.

"That seems fair enough." They turned down the street and instantly their destination came into view. Stark Tower was a few blocks south of them and in the darkness of the night it was beautiful. The tallest building in the vicinity, Stark Tower was a grand monument to Tony Stark himself. It was just like him to build a giant skyscraper towering in the middle of Manhattan's business district with his last name plastered at the top in lights bright enough to rival the light show on the Empire State Building.

Most people found the building arrogant but it had grown on Scarlett with time. It didn't mean she wouldn't continue to tease Tony about his metaphoric penis in the middle of Manhattan even if she had become attached to it. The building not the penis, that was. Scarlett shook the thought from her head then continued down the block. Clint was soon catching up with her, having stopped to watch the lights twinkle at the top of the building. Whether he was admiring it or rolling his eyes at it, Scarlett wasn't sure.

"How's that going?" Clint nodded toward Stark Tower but was referring to the relationship between Scarlett and Tony.

"It's… well, it's complicated." Scarlett summed up her romantic life in a nutshell, but a smile crossed her lips. The relationship wasn't a bad kind of complicated, it simply was _complicated_. Tony Stark was a genius, a public figure, and sometimes, more often than not, a smug arrogant ass. Scarlett wasn't used to being in the public eye and it had been a huge adjustment for her. It wasn't that she couldn't handle it, just that she wasn't used to anyone scrutinizing her every move. But for Tony she was willing to make the adjustment. They fought constantly, but the fights were very rarely ever _serious_ arguments. Most of the time their arguments were made simply for the sake of fighting.

Once Tony had discovered how brilliant make up sex was, he'd picked as many fights as he could. It was a terrible habit but Scarlett secretly had as much fun as Tony did through the process so hadn't pushed him to knock it off. Despite the fun they had together even when they were fighting, they had their problems and serious ones at that.

The problems were what made things _really_ complicated, even conflicting. But they both had to take things one step at a time. Scarlett had never anticipated dating Tony Stark, or anyone for that matter, so she had never expected the experience to be anywhere near perfect.

"I hear that." Clint responded. Relationships weren't his forte but as Scarlett's friend he was obligated to ask how it was going. Plus, after having helped her and Tony escape from a MedCo experiment facility in Moscow a few months prior he had a strange attachment to them both. He wanted to see them be happy together.

Clint had worked undercover for S.H.I.E.L.D. to infiltrate MedCo's operation in hopes of shutting them down from the inside or at least gathering enough intelligence to bring criminal charges upon them for acts of terror. But MedCo had become aware of his infiltration and strung him along for weeks. He'd made the executive decision to blow his cover when Scarlett had been brought to the facility unconscious by Mikhail, the ruthless Russian thug who had been one of MedCo's primary leaders. At least he had been one of the leaders before Scarlett put a bullet through his head.

Blowing his cover had been against his orders but Clint didn't regret having done so. In the end he'd managed to prevent the building from being blown to pieces with Natasha and had saved Scarlett and Tony's lives in the process. The evidence that had been built against MedCo from what remained of the Russian facility had been monumental. Shortly after the company had gone underground and was still working on disappearing. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents were in pursuit even as they spoke. With any luck the only remaining leader of the company, Marcia, would be caught and tried for the atrocities committed even if they could only prove what had been done to Scarlett.

Upon reaching the front doors to Stark Tower, Scarlett turned to face Clint expectantly but he didn't seem to have much to say. Without another word, Scarlett gave him a hug, patted him hard on the back and then walked into the building after staring into the camera. Jarvis, Tony's intelligent home computer system, scanned her features and granted her access to the building past business hours.

Clint watched her walk inside before turning on his heels and starting back toward the subway. Stark Tower was far out of his way, but it was the least he could do after he'd interrupted Scarlett's jog and thrown her into the middle of a fight that had never been hers.

Even though she lived in Stark Tower which doubled as a home for Tony Stark she didn't actually live _with_ Tony. Their relationship from its inception had absolutely no normalcy to it. Every date they'd been on had been a complete disaster. Even when they had their first few romantic moments one of the two had been trying to manipulate the other. Now that they were seriously trying to form a bond Scarlett had insisted they find a way to make at least one thing about their relationship normal.

So Tony had surprised her with a whole floor of the Stark Tower building filled with lofts and apartments so that when guests came by they would have a place to stay. The biggest loft had been designated as her living space. He had wanted her to come and live _with_ him but not until she was ready for it. Tony had one too many failed relationships because he'd rushed into things without thinking. He was grateful that Scarlett was looking out for them. But recently Tony had been pushing the idea of her moving in with him and though she'd been considering it, Scarlett wasn't sure she was ready for it quite yet.

Riding the elevator in silence, Scarlett checked her pockets again and found that she'd lost her headphones during the fight. It wasn't a big deal, more humorous than anything but she hoped that neither her phone nor her mp3 player had been damaged during the scuffle. Scarlett unlocked her apartment door after walking off of the elevator and down a long hallway. Automatically the lights turned on throughout the living area, courtesy of the intelligent Jarvis system that had control over almost every aspect of her home to make her life simpler.

Jarvis was one of Scarlett's favorite things on the planet. Charming, helpful, and often sassier than he was programmed to be, Jarvis was the best butler a girl could ask for. Scarlett wasn't sure how she'd ever lived without him.

"Miss Damien, I see that you have once again returned home bloody. Is this becoming a habit of yours?" The whimsical male voice with the slightest hint of a British accent greeted her once she'd taken off her sweater.

"I swear it's not on purpose, Jarvis." Scarlett smiled but could feel her lip split and pull as she did then scowled instead.

"Should I send another warning to S.H.I.E.L.D.? This will be the eighth on file. Frankly if they didn't listen to the last one this one seems pointless. I'd take more drastic measures."

"I tend to agree. Don't worry about it Jarvis, I'm going to deal with them personally this time." Scarlett walked into her bedroom which lit up for her. "Close your eyes."

"I do not have eyes, madam."

"I was making a joke, Jarvis." Scarlett rolled her eyes and then after grabbing some comfortable pajamas walked into the bathroom for a quick shower. It was a long running joke between her and Tony that Jarvis had a crush on Scarlett since they'd met. Ever since then Scarlett had been threatening to run away with him.

After having run far more than she had anticipated and spent an extended period of time in a jail cell after having been in a fight with a dozen or so gang members she felt the need to boil the sweat and stink off of her flesh.

Once out of the shower, Scarlett returned to her living room where Jarvis, using his high tech holographic technology showed her the updates to her lawsuits and the blueprints she'd been working on when she'd had free time which seemed rarely these days.

"Your lawyer has sent over some paperwork and it should arrive early tomorrow morning for you to overlook, Miss Damien. I do believe that some of the original transactions for your work have been located and proceedings can at last begin."

"That's great news, Jarvis." Scarlett sat down on the couch and rubbed her sore jaw. Part of the ceiling opened up and a tray descended on a mechanical arm. On top of this tray was an ice pack, two ibuprofen, and a glass of water. "You are the _best_."

"I am programmed to please, Miss Damien." Scarlett picked up the ice pack and placed it against her sore lip and immediately winced. She was just beginning to unwind, leaning against her couch when another holographic window opened up in front of her.

"Hey, if you're up for it I've got a bottle of wine open. _I'm_ up for it, but I'm always up for it if you know what I mean…" Tony Stark's face appeared in front of her. His goatee was neatly trimmed as always, having become his signature look over the years. Brown eyes with a slight tinge of green looked down at her filled with mischief and excitement though they were puffy from lack of sleep. Immediately upon seeing his girlfriend through the holographic communication his smile faded. Scarlett didn't respond and held the ice pack instead to her lip again, waiting for Tony to let loose.

"Again? _Really?_" Tony turned his gaze away from the video call and ran his hand through his short cropped but meticulously styled brown hair. "Scarlett this is the sixth time this has happened! Was it Katniss again? Or maybe little Miss Spider-web?"

"Eighth time." Scarlett corrected and Tony cocked an eyebrow as if to ask if the number of times really mattered.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks they can just throw you into danger when you've distinctly told them no? Do you want me to fill Nick Fury's computer with porn, because I can do that." It may have sounded like Tony was joking but in reality he was nervous that Scarlett was getting roped into more danger and she had already been in far more danger than he would've liked. How many times had he almost lost her in the last six months? It seemed like a petty thing to worry about a woman who was perfectly capable of taking care of herself but it wasn't. Not to Tony Stark. He'd cared this deeply about so few people in his life that the idea of _losing_ any of them gave him nightmares.

"That's not necessary. I'm going to talk to them soon. You know I might as well work for them, Tony. S.H.I.E.L.D. ropes me into doing the work anyway so I might as well get compensated for it." Scarlett laughed but once again didn't get a response from Tony. In fact, she was sure that his face paled a little. "What?"

"Nothing, I just… Well, I thought you were very anti-working for another company teetering between benevolence and soul sucking evil." Tony twitched, working his face into a squint as he tried to properly portray his worry without actually letting on that he _was_ worried. Scarlett had spent the last year being manipulated by those around her. Tony didn't want to see that happen again. He knew just how manipulative S.H.I.E.L.D. could be.

While in the Middle East two months earlier he'd discovered one of his girlfriend's bigger secrets and that was that she had spent some time in captivity where she'd been tortured and tormented beyond his wildest dreams. On top of that he'd discovered that the man who had set her up for that torture was the one who was supposed to be caring for her.

He'd found Scott's old apartment, it was something he still hadn't told Scarlett about. Inside the apartment had been the bare necessities of living. But in the closet he had found a box filled with mementos from his relationship with Scarlett including her bloodied hospital gown. If that hadn't been enough to make him sick to his stomach, when he'd flipped the lights off in the apartment he'd found hidden writing all along the walls glowing under the blue light of the arc reactor in his chest. The reactor powered an electromagnet in his chest that kept shrapnel from reaching his heart. Tony had his own scars to bear, but he'd since come to terms with them and become the infamous Iron Man, a super hero of his own making.

The scribbling he'd discovered beneath the reactor light was that of a mad man. Bits and pieces had made enough sense for Tony to discover Scott's true motives. He wanted to experiment on Scarlett until there was nothing left of the woman she was. Somehow their relationship had become twisted in his mind and he'd thought that the reason she couldn't love him was because the way she thought was _wrong_. Paying a group of thugs in Afghanistan to kidnap her on a phony mission he'd set up for her had been the first planned step in breaking her mental state. It had partially worked.

When Tony had first met Scarlett after saving her in the wreckage of an explosion in South Africa she had been a broken and confused woman. Slowly, with Tony's help she had regained her bearings. At least he liked to think he had been helping. It was possible he had only made it harder for her by falling in love with her. They'd fallen in love in spite of each other and their attempts to destroy their blossoming relationship.

"Tony?" Scarlett was watching him as he stared, that obvious look of worry across his face. Tony fancied himself a gifted liar but Scarlett knew better than that. He'd been so used to people accepting the truth from him regardless of what it was, part of his shocking and charming public persona, that when it came for him to find the need to lie about something he was absolutely terrible at it. His face was far too expressive for him to hide much of anything, at least Scarlett thought so. The worry was practically dripping out of his large eyes.

"What? Sorry, that shirt is really distracting. Really, it's your own fault." Tony was brought back to reality. "Stand up and shake it for me, it'll help. Really."

"Don't try to change the topic." Scarlett laughed. Sexist comments and absurd requests had become a regular part of their relationship but she had long since learned how to handle them.

"I'm not changing the topic, you're the one changing the topic. I like this topic."

"I said I might approach S.H.I.E.L.D. and you went ten shades paler than you are. You can't blame _that_ on my breasts, okay? I know from experience that is _not_ the reaction they get from you."

"Well, you can't really see the rest of me can you?" Tony cocked an eyebrow and pointed accusingly.

"Tony."

"Scarlett."

"What if I was serious about S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Scarlett hadn't _exactly_ been joking when she'd brought it up. Even if she ended up not taking the job with them she needed to approach them about the jobs she'd somehow managed to get roped into over the past few months. If they were going to continue interrupting her life then something had to be done. Tonight hadn't been the first time she'd wound up in lock up thanks to Clint Barton and her health insurance rates were already through the roof simply because she lived with Tony Stark.

"Don't do it." Tony leaned back on his dark brown leather couch, pulling the screen that was showing him Scarlett's face. Her lip was bloody and while he couldn't see any other wounds he had a feeling there was more to it than that. How many times had he taken care of her after Romanoff or Barton had dragged her out on some adventure? Eight apparently, according to Scarlett. He knew that she wasn't the type to walk away from the opportunity to help them in a dangerous situation either. It wasn't her fault. He didn't blame her. He blamed S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Why not? You do it." Scarlett sighed, leaning forward, her elbows on her knees. "S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't going to let me out of some kind of involvement with them, Tony. You know that as well as I do. After what happened in Russia…"

"What happened in Russia is exactly the reason why you _shouldn't_ go work for them. You nearly died."

"The point is I can prevent more of what happened in Russia. If I try to do it on my own then I'm going to end up in prison."

"Not with my firewall." Tony smirked.

"Tony, I can do it legally if I approach S.H.I.E.L.D."

"But what if you end up being their bait for what's left of MedCo? I can't watch that happen!" Tony snapped finally, practically barking the words. It wasn't that he meant to be nasty, just that it had been building in the back of his mind for some time. Each time he'd gone to consult for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the last month he'd been asked about Scarlett and Tony had told them she was off limits. Obviously Phil Coulson needed a hearing aid.

"I won't let that happen."

"How do you know they won't do it anyway? You know how S.H.I.E.L.D. is with telling the whole truth. They have more secrets than I do."

"You don't have any secrets, sweetie." Scarlett pursed her lips, trying to turn the conversation back around. It wasn't the first time they'd argued about S.H.I.E.L.D. but usually they were on the same page. Only recently had she changed her mind about taking a position amongst their ranks.

"Okay, that's true. But Scarlett… they could get you killed." Tony pouted and then worked her words over in his mind. "Did you just call me _sweetie?_"

"I was being condescending." Scarlett held up her hands before he could respond. Often Tony interrupted their topic of conversation with several other topics that had absolutely nothing to do with what they were talking about. It took hours to get back to the matter at hand when that happened. She was learning very quickly how to stay on point. "Look I can take care of myself, you know that Tony. I'm stronger than I have been in a long time and we've been working together on many fancy new toys that I can use to stay out of harm's way. It'll be a part time thing anyway, sort of like when they ask you for help. But I'm a fighter so you know that's what they'll use me for."

"That's what I'm worried about!"

"I know you are, but you can't keep me wrapped in bubble wrap all day to keep me safe! I like danger, Tony. It's part of what attracted me to you, remember?" Scarlett felt like a broken record. They'd talked about danger a hundred times and neither one had changed their stance on the matter.

"I can't argue with that, I _am_ pretty dangerous…" Tony managed a small smile at long last.

"It won't be too frequent anyway, Tony. I'm so busy there's no way they'd be able to take up too much of my time. Between testing the arc reactor power converter upstate with you, trying to obtain a grant to start up my private projects, and trying to get the patents obtained for all my ideas that Scott stole from me over the years I don't have much time to offer them. Thankfully I still have those notebooks that I'd hid in safety deposit boxes so it shouldn't be a problem in the long run just very time consuming…" When Scarlett laid everything that was going on currently in her life out on the table it seemed very overwhelming. The arc reactor power project had been put on the back burner. When she'd first met Tony he'd been working on an amplifier to properly transmit the power from his new element on a grander scale.

Scarlett had then signed a contract to work with him on the project as part of Stark Industries in hopes of changing the world. But life had gotten in the way and they hadn't had much of an opportunity to work on the conversion process since they'd returned to their new home in Manhattan. It had taken weeks to transport their supplies from Malibu and the set up process was still in the works.

"I'm just worried about you. I don't want you to get in over your head again." Tony sighed, realizing that he wouldn't be able to distract Scarlett from the topic.

"I'm _never_ in over my head."

"And that delusion is exactly where our problem lies." Placing his hand against his temple he pinched, pretending to have a headache from their conversation. He really was worried about her. Hell, he was so worried that he had nightmares all night long and very rarely got enough sleep. Half the time he avoided going to sleep because he was nervous of what he'd see when he closed his eyes. Two months ago Tony had fought tooth and nail to learn the truth of what had happened to Scarlett and his excuse had been that his brain was over active and instead of accepting her story on face value his imagination filled in the blanks with various horrific scenarios. He thought that learning the truth would have rectified that but instead it had made his nightmares only more vivid and intense.

"It's not a delusion, Tony. Look I _know_ you're worried about me…"

"Don't baby me." Looking very much like a child as he pouted and turned his gaze away, Tony immediately betrayed his words

"I'm not babying you. I think it's sweet that you're worried about me. I can't stop living because we're worried about how things will pan out. Our lives are very dangerous, Tony and it's something we're going to have to come to terms with if we expect this to work out." The familiar feeling of guilt washed over her. It was her fault Tony wasn't sleeping and even more so that he wouldn't admit he wasn't sleeping. He didn't want to worry _her_ with his worrying. It had become a vicious cycle that they'd dealt with every night since they'd returned home from Moscow.

Scarlett wanted nothing more than to repair the damage that she'd done to his psyche but she had no idea where to begin. It was hard enough for _her_ to find rest at night, how was she supposed to give Tony advice on finding his? All she could hope to do was wear him out until he passed out and finally got some rest. This had worked on several occasions but had managed to exhaust _her_ and leave her restless.

"I know that. I really do. It's not that simple."

"Why don't you come over and stay with me tonight?" Scarlett smiled, hoping to draw the topic of conversation away from her possible future employment with S.H.I.E.L.D. If she could distract him well enough then maybe he wouldn't worry so much when it came to fruition.

"This is silly." Tony stood up even though he was arguing with her over what came next. They'd had this argument before too, at least once a week for the past six weeks. "You should just move in with me already. There's plenty of room for the both of us here and we live in the same building anyway. We've spent _every_ night together since we got home. We're technically living together already so why not take the plunge?" Tony knew how the argument would end so he got into the elevator that would take him down a few flights so he could show up at her door and spend the night with her. He may not sleep very well with Scarlett but he slept even worse when he was without her. They'd tried to spend a few nights apart but it had only lasted until about midnight before one of them showed up at the other's door, lonely and plagued by their racing thoughts.

"I know it's silly but I'm not ready yet, okay? Soon though. I promise." Scarlett smiled, watching Tony making his way to her door. Seconds later there was a knock at her door. Grabbing the video screen by either side, she slammed it closed with her hands and it disappeared with a pop. Walking to the door and opening it, Scarlett was relieved when Tony wrapped his arms around her and offered her a kiss in greeting. Then he leaned against the frame of the door, hands still lazily on her waist.

"Okay, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop asking."

"I didn't expect you to. I don't' want you to stop." Scarlett leaned into the hand that touched her cheek. His thumb brushed close to her swollen lip.

"How bad is it this time?"

"Not too bad, my lip and my back. Probably the least damaging experience so far."

"Not true, when you're with Romanoff she at least makes sure you get taken care of."

"Clint's just a little more reckless at times." Scarlett smiled. She really did enjoy spending time with Clint even if she gave him a hard time about it when they were together.

"How did you hurt your back?" Scarlett pulled away from Tony's arms and led him into her apartment.

"I was thrown through a door." Scarlett looked at him over her shoulder. "I didn't go see a doctor. I probably should" Biting her lip in a smile she narrowed her eyes at Tony playfully. "You have a few doctorates, don't you?" Tony instantly walked inside the apartment and followed her through the hall, his mind successfully taken off of the matter at hand.


	3. Anytime At All

Tony Stark couldn't sleep.

His girlfriend's bed was perfectly comfortable, in fact it was luxurious. Nearby Scarlett lay curled up next to him, her hand lazily resting over his chest which was how he preferred her when they slept. And though she silently lay next to him, her breathing slow and even, her eyelids occasionally twitching through REM sleep, safe and sound, Tony lay awake choosing between staring at the ceiling and staring at Scarlett's face. His eyes focused upon the bloodied scab on her lip and the bruise that had developed on her shoulder. Carefully he fixed the sleeve of his t-shirt she had donned before resting his hand back against his bare stomach.

It wasn't his surroundings that kept him awake and it most certainly couldn't be that he wasn't tired. Oh _no_, Tony was absolutely exhausted. Ever since he'd returned from Moscow and had Scarlett living in the same building he'd been unable to properly find rest. It wasn't her fault but she wasn't entirely free of blame either. He'd stolen a glimpse of just exactly how Scarlett had lived before they'd found each other and it scared the hell out of him. If she knew that thoughts of her safety were what kept him awake each night then he wasn't sure she'd forgive herself for it. That was the last thing he wanted. Scarlett felt guilty enough about what she'd put him through.

How was it that for two of the smartest people on the planet they were also two of the most self loathing, destructive people as well? As much as Tony _knew_ it was bad for him not to sleep, as much as he knew he shouldn't worry about a woman who had proven time and again that she was capable of taking care of herself, he couldn't stop from worrying and that worry kept him awake.

He'd seen her at her weakest point and it had left him shaken. If Scott hadn't been so consumed with reprogramming her then she would've died and there would've been nothing Tony could've done about it. He had made the decision to leave her to her own devices so he could get to the bottom of the story she refused to tell him about her time in captivity. It had been rewarding to discover so much about her, but it had left Scarlett vulnerable and alone in her time of need. Tony hadn't been there to protect her when she had needed it most even if she had objected to that fact on numerous occasions.

For all the sophisticated armor and advanced technology he possessed none of it could've helped him in that moment. When he closed his eyes he saw in his mind's eye the moment where he'd been on the phone with Scarlett and her ex-boyfriend had attacked her. The fight had echoed through the phone line until he'd heard gunshots. He had known exactly what was going on and had been powerless to stop it because he was too far away.

It was luck that had left her alive, not anything more than that. Tony couldn't rely on luck. Luck was for the naïve. He loved Scarlett too much. That thought had seemed funny at first and he'd wrestled with it so severely that he'd nearly reverted to the jackass chauvinist he'd once been before the incident that turned him into Iron Man. Over time he'd gotten used to the idea of being in love and even comforted by it.

But now being in love frightened him. How could he ever go back to being alone if something happened to her? How would he ever deal with the loss of someone that finally understood him and loved him for both his flaws and strengths? His bond with Scarlett was irreplaceable and if lost he couldn't fathom what would become of him. Falling in love had been the best and the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

Logically he knew, he _knew_, that there would be times that he couldn't protect her and she would have to fly solo. It didn't stop him from worrying and obsessing over safety, her safety in particular. When it came to his own safety Tony was often careless. Thankfully Scarlett was just as worried about him so she kept him in line when need be. But it didn't matter if he got hurt, that's what she didn't seem to understand.

Shifting in bed, Tony tried to get his wandering thoughts in check but no matter what he thought about, even if he replayed the events that took place after Scarlett had gotten home that evening, he dwelled on the fight she'd gotten into with Hawkeye. Scarlett was a tough chick, one of the toughest he'd ever known but she was also fragile, more so than she realized. If he said that out loud he was sure that she would argue it tooth and nail. But Scarlett hadn't realized she was no longer the hardened assassin of the past.

Betrayal and captivity had changed her and therein lay her fragility. Until she could discover the woman she had become and adjust to her new life she would remain fragile and broken. Tony could see how lost she was in moments he stole glances at her when she thought no one was looking.

What if someone else discovered her vulnerability? That was what kept him awake at night. With MedCo and her ex still on the loose and out for blood, they couldn't afford to be vulnerable outside of each other's arms. When it came down to it, Tony was just as fragile and it was of his own making. His worry and inability to accept things as they were made him just as weak as Scarlett was.

Even if he could clear his thoughts of every nasty manifestation of what could possibly happen to Scarlett because of her past combined with his and the new public persona she had to take on in order to be with him there was the little problem of who he was. Tony Stark was notorious for being a failure at relationships. He was a user, a womanizer, a pig. Somehow Tony always did something to drive away the people who meant anything to him. For the man who had everything he certainly didn't have many people to share it with.

There was Virginia "Pepper" Potts, his loyal assistant though. While most of her time was spent mothering Tony and nagging him at every opportunity he knew when it came down to the bottom line she would do anything to help him because before being her boss he was her friend. Then there was Happy Hogan, his driver, who was loyal to a fault. Tony was sure if he had to choose between him and Pepper then he would choose Pepper in a heartbeat. His best friend, James Rhodes, was always there for Tony when he really needed him. But that was it. Outside of those three Tony had always been alone. When he sat and thought about it, he'd never _had_ anyone like Scarlett in his life before.

It wasn't that he hadn't had steady girlfriends in the past. Tony had more than most men had in their lifetime in the past ten years alone. But none of them had ever had the profound effect Scarlett had on him. In a weird way they had needed each other in order to discover just how lonely they had been. Now that she was with him Tony was happier than he had ever been in a relationship.

The idea of losing her was terrifying. Realistically Tony knew he was more likely to do something to screw up their relationship than someone else interfering. Long lasting romance and Tony Stark were foreign entities. Melding into one was proving to be far too easy. It scared him to think he was quite possibly a ticking time bomb, waiting to do something stupid to scare the woman curled up next to him away.

Staring back at her peaceful face, he temporarily shut out the nagging annoyances bouncing around in the back of his mind. It was too bad Scarlett wasn't awake to keep him occupied. While his thoughts may have betrayed him while he was alone, when they were together he could keep them at bay. If only she was disturbed in her slumber and shaken awake to join him in his insomnia.

Tony brushed her long curly hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. She stirred and tilted her head but didn't wake up. Maybe if he could get comfortable he would be able to sleep. Readjusting beneath the covers, Tony was careful not to wake Scarlett. But he had forgotten that her hand lay across his chest and when he shifted it slid off and she immediately opened her eyes. It always surprised him how quickly Scarlett became alert after sleeping. Sometimes Pepper had to physically drag him to meetings because he was none too eager to escape the covers. But Scarlett always seemed alert upon waking. He guessed it was a skill she'd developed after years of being on her guard.

Scarlett rubbed her eyes but sat up instantly while Tony watched her with pursed lips and wide eyes as if to await a bad reaction from her. There were many things Scarlett scolded him for but waking her up had never been one of them and he had done _that_ on many occasions. Pushing her hair out of her face and blinking her eyes a few times to shake off the last remnants of sleep, Scarlett turned her attention back to Tony.

He wasn't sleeping _again_.

This didn't come as a surprise to Scarlett. He'd woken her up almost every night for the past month on "accident" because he couldn't find rest. Tony wasn't very good at entertaining himself, especially not in her loft. Even in his home a few flights up he wasn't able to entertain himself very readily. He'd taken to going to his lab to get some work done on occasion but something had still bothered him enough, even down there, that he would end up back in his room and shaking Scarlett awake to come and keep him company.

"Sorry I woke you… These sheets are all bunched up around my back and it was uncomfortable." Tony lied through his teeth. He didn't need Scarlett to worry about him not being able to sleep. Honestly, he didn't want her knowing that he worried so much about _her_. The guilt she'd felt about the last year had often made her sick to her stomach. The last thing Tony wanted was to add to that already innumerable amount of guilt.

"Sure, sure…" Scarlett laid back in bed next to him and watched him knowingly. Deep down he realized that she had to have known that he was doing it on purpose, even if he'd convinced himself each accidental bump or loud noise had been just that. "Can't sleep again, huh?" Tony instantly looked away when she mentioned it but nodded his head to confirm it was the truth. Scarlett was wondering if maybe something really _was_ wrong with Tony. He had to start sleeping eventually or it was going to catch up with him and soon.

Each time she'd tried to talk to him about it he'd pulled back and grown distant. He'd insisted time and time again that it was nothing or that he'd napped too long during the day. Every night he was up until the point of exhaustion came with a different excuse as to why he wasn't finding rest.

"You can go back to sleep, I didn't mean to wake you. I mean, you looked so comfortable in my shirt…" Tony tugged at her sleeve and she shook her head immediately.

"No, I'm awake now so I might as well stay up with you." Scarlett had stayed up with Tony each time that he'd woken her. Even if he didn't want to tell her _why_ he was waking her up she wanted to keep him company in case he really needed her. Any other woman likely would've told him to go sit on the couch in the living room and leave her be so she could rest. But Scarlett had the feeling that something terrible was keeping Tony awake. There had been occasions where he'd slept and had nightmares and she believed those same nightmares were what kept him awake.

When Scarlett had nightmares in a hotel in Spain months ago, Tony had been there to take care of her. Even if Tony never told her why he couldn't sleep, even if he insisted that he was able to sleep just fine when it was obvious that he couldn't, Scarlett was going to do what she could to try and alleviate his stress. It was the very least she could do for him, considering how much he'd done for her in the past. She remembered distinctly that it was the first time she hadn't felt _alone_ when he'd cared for her in that hotel even if she had reacted badly to his questions after her nightmares.

Tony deserved to feel like _he_ wasn't alone. Scarlett could tell by the way Tony's face lit up that he was relieved she would stay awake with him.

"Are you sure? You had a long night and that's just what we did after you got home." A playful smirk on his face, Tony nudged her with his elbow. Scarlett swatted at his chest and rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile. Tony secretly loved it when she swatted him like that. Naturally something designed to try and let him know he'd done something to annoy her would bring him pleasure.

"I'm sure. Come on, let's get out of this room." Scarlett kicked off the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Usually when they woke up in the middle of the night they went to work in the laboratory, which one varied. When they went to Scarlett's they were guaranteed to get absolutely nothing done. This was due to the fact that none of what was in there belonged to Tony so he very quickly grew bored when left to his own devices. He didn't like being a guest in another person's laboratory and Scarlett often chased him away from half finished projects so he wouldn't break anything.

So instead Tony chose to harass Scarlett there and one thing usually led to another and they wound up back in bed. In Tony's lab they lasted a bit longer before he'd be chasing her tail back upstairs, but not much longer. They had decided it wasn't a very good idea for them to work together ninety percent of the time. That was why they only tried to in the middle of the night. It was extra time spent working on projects for their various endeavors and if they ended up losing interest halfway through it didn't affect much of anything.

"Wait!" Tony called to her and Scarlett nearly lost her balance, her foot caught in the sheets on her way out of bed.

"What?" She looked at Tony over her shoulder. Maybe he would _finally_ tell her what had frightened him so badly that it had kept him awake every night for a month.

"You're not going to get dressed are you?" Tony pouted, crawling to the edge of the bed and reaching for the bottom of his t-shirt that she had fallen asleep in. Scarlett laughed and rolled her eyes then swatted his hand away from the bottom of her shirt. "Come on, walking around like that has its perks."

"For _you_."

"Yes, for me. I didn't specify what those perks were did I?" Tony nodded fervently and pouted up at her. He'd learned over the weeks past that if he looked at her with especially wide eyes she would be more likely to relent than not. According to Scarlett he had big brown puppy eyes and she felt like Sarah McLachlan would scold her if she didn't make him stop pouting at her.

"Fine, we're staying in tonight then." Scarlett walked back to where he laid on the bed and hooked her index finger under Tony's chin. Guiding him to sit up which he very easily complied with, Scarlett glared at him sternly and then pointed at him. "But you have got to stop using the puppy dog thing for evil, okay? It's not going to work forever if you keep abusing its power."

"You're just saying that because you want me to stop." Tony nipped at the air in front of her finger and then climbed out of bed. "We'll stay in, that's a fair trade."

"Come on." Scarlett took his hand and led him out of the bedroom. In the middle of the night Tony really was more like a puppy dog than during the day. It wasn't as though he was trying to manipulate her. More likely it was because whatever bothered him while he was unable to sleep was making him behave in such a way. If he wouldn't tell her, Scarlett would simply keep him busy until he _did_ tell her or he finally slept. They'd spent entire nights up talking on the couch together. Scarlett had made attempts to teach Tony how to cook on several occasions. While he'd failed at most cooking endeavors or just proved to make a mess trying to chase her around the counter, he was a professional at mixing drinks.

"Are you going to try to and teach me how to make soup again? Because you know how that turned out right? The broth boiled away and we burnt the hell out of that chicken… Do you remember how long it took to get rid of the smell because I remember…" Tony followed her out of the bedroom, down the hall, and into the living room.

"I'm not giving up on teaching you to fend for yourself." Scarlett turned at the end of the hall and pointed at him again. "But no, I'm not teaching you to cook tonight."

Tony caught up with her at the end of the hall and grabbed the finger she pointed at him. She tried to pull it away from him but he wrapped his fingers around her hand and pulled it close so he could kiss the back of it.

"You know it's a fruitless endeavor, right? Teaching me to cook, that is. I mean, Scarlett in any situation I can afford to buy us food, you know that right?"

"You never know when it'll come in handy." Scarlett pulled her hand away and then placed it instead on the side of his neck. "Besides, you're pretty cute in an apron."

"I can't deny that." Tony followed her into the living room where she sat on the couch. "Though you're _much_ cuter in _just_ an apron than I am."

"I'd argue against that actually. But to each their own." Scarlett smirked, patting the spot next to her. Tony jumped over the back of the couch and instantly wrapped his arms around Scarlett, pulling her so she was lying awkwardly with him on the cushions. She laughed and tried to readjust but Tony kept her firmly trapped in his arms. "When was the last time I told you that you were ridiculous?"

"Earlier. Like three hours ago actually. You should tone down on that word, ridiculous. If you over use it then in a month's time it's going to mean nothing." Tony taunted, mocking her earlier abuse of his puppy dog eyes.

"We can't stay like this, I'm hungry."

"So am I." Tony growled and nipped at her neck, leaving kisses in his wake. Scarlett shook her head and leaned it back against the couch trying to catch his gaze.

"No, I meant _really_ hungry. For food. I didn't have dinner."

"Oh, that's disappointing." Tony pouted and rested his head on the couch next to her, his fingers nervously playing with the hem of her shirt. He couldn't express how grateful he was that she dealt with him every night and with such grace. Hell, if she had told him to buzz off while she'd gotten some sleep, Tony would've completely understood. But instead she took care of him, played with him, and most importantly didn't make him feel guilty about losing sleep. "Pizza?"

"How'd you know?"

"Every damn time you see Clint you want a piece of pizza." Tony pointed out and Scarlett couldn't help but smile.

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is. Jarvis, back me up here."

"I'm afraid that Mr. Stark is correct on this one." The charming robotic voice spoke from overhead. "Shall I put in your order for the usual? Sausage with extra cheese?"

"Oh come on, it's not every time!" Scarlett laughed, placing her hand over Tony's lips so he couldn't argue but as she thought about it she'd realized that each time she'd run into Clint one way or another she'd ended up getting a pizza afterward.

"Denial," Tony muttered against her hand.

"Order the pizza, Jarvis." Scarlett pouted, pulling her now slobbery hand away from Tony's lips and wiping it on her shirt. "I never noticed. I wonder what it is about Clint that makes me want pizza…" She drifted off, trying to think of what could've triggered such a weird reaction. She'd even told him that he'd _owed_ her pizza after they'd managed to escape their scuffle earlier in the night. What the hell was wrong with Clint that made her want pizza so badly?

"So you were _wrong_." Tony tugged on her shirt again.

"I wasn't wrong, I just didn't _realize_ I was doing it."

"Which makes you wrong to assume you weren't."

"When you admit you're wrong about something then so will I Tony but until that day comes we're both going to live in this happy shared denial we have going on." Scarlett laughed, stretching her legs out on the couch.

Their nonsensical conversation continued on through the night, until at long last the pizza had arrived at Stark Tower. Jarvis took care of takeout orders which had at first confused the delivery men but it hadn't taken very long for their usual places to grow accustomed to the nonconventional system they had set up. That and both Tony and Scarlett were _very_ generous tippers.

With the pizza box flipped open on the coffee table and the television on in the background playing some of the shows they enjoyed watching together during the week for background noise, Scarlett and Tony enjoyed sitting together on the couch, talking over the television and eating their incredibly late dinner.

"I know it's your least favorite subject on the planet," Scarlett began, finishing off her piece of pizza. "But I think I'm going to approach S.H.I.E.L.D. and talk to them about a realistic deal so I can put a stop to the nonsense that went on tonight." Much to her surprise Tony's smile instantly faded and he clammed up just the way he did when she had tried to get him to share why he wasn't sleeping.

Panic gripped Tony and he instantly turned his gaze away from her and focused on the pizza box hanging off the side of the table. There it was. Just what he had been afraid of. If Scarlett worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. she was going to be put into danger one way or another and it was likely that Tony wouldn't be there for her when she got in over her head. It was bad enough worrying about her without her running into harm's way on purpose. Now she was seriously considering working for the people who made a habit of dragging her into dangerous conflicts that she had no part of.

Why would she do that? After the hell they'd gone through over the past months to get to the happy place they shared now, why would she throw it away?

"What is it?" Scarlett wiped her hands on a napkin and leaned against her knees, looking seriously to her suddenly troubled boyfriend. What was it that was bothering him so much that every time she talked about S.H.I.E.L.D. or his inability to sleep that he mentally shut off? "Look, it's a good idea. You work for them. It'll be another source of revenue."

"We don't _need_ another source of revenue. Scarlett, we're loaded." Tony spoke, but his voice was far less animated than usual. In fact, he sounded as exhausted as he must have felt.

"I know we are, but this will be good for _me_." Scarlett knew that no matter his response she was going to approach S.H.I.E.L.D. the next day. He would have to come to terms with it regardless of how he felt about it. Nick Fury, the intimidating head of S.H.I.E.L.D., had practically threatened to expose her lengthy illegal history if she hadn't joined forces with them. That was what had _kept _her from joining them initially. Scarlett never did respond well to threats. But over time she had realized that it hadn't been as much of a threat as it had been an eventuality of her existence.

Tony was a media darling. If she didn't find a way to deal with her past she was going to end up in prison thanks to some nosy reporter. S.H.I.E.L.D. could prevent that, she'd seen them do it for people who were far more notorious than she was. On top of that they'd made it clear that they weren't going to keep her out of their business. Clint and Natasha had been trying to show her how much good she could do in New York with the two of them by throwing her into dangerous situations.

It had worked.

On top of that Scarlett missed adventure. Life with Tony _was_ an adventure in itself but the life of an assassin that she'd lived for nearly twenty years wasn't going to be easy to just _drop_.

"We can work together and tag team projects with S.H.I.E.L.D., too. You consult and I can explore. I know they likely won't let us be a team if I'm out on some mission or something but you know… they can't _keep _us from working together in house. We're two of the best minds of our generation and they would be idiots not to let us work together in that kind of setting."

"Scarlett, I don't want you to work for S.H.I.E.L.D." Tony finally spoke and though it wasn't what Scarlett wanted to hear she was at least glad he'd said something.

"I know you don't. You've made that perfectly clear. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm going to do it. I don't understand why you're so against it." Scarlett nudged his shoulder. "If you'd give me a good reason I'd consider it but instead you turn into this brooding gargoyle every time I mention it. Tony this is way safer than chasing me around Africa was and you insisted on doing that."

"I can't, Scarlett." Tony shook his head and looked to her seriously. About to object that he couldn't tell her to stay out of harm's way and to completely abandon the life she lived Scarlett stopped short when she saw something in Tony's eyes. It was fear. Tony was scared. He was scared that something was going to happen to her but he wasn't telling her that was the case. She understood the fear all too well because she had felt it for months, but for him. When he'd followed her halfway around the world while she'd pursued the people who had ruined her life, she had literal panic attacks imagining what would happen to Tony if he made a wrong move behind her. She never would've forgiven herself if he had been caught in the crossfire of her torrid history.

"Why can't you? Tony, this is _my_ life. I need to do something good with these skills that I have. It would be a disservice for me to let it go to waste. Besides, I _like_ conflict. Remember?"

"I know that, okay? I do. You're my female James Bond, I think about it all the time because it's _really_ hot but Scarlett…"

"What, Tony?" She finally grew frustrated and got up from where she sat on the couch. "Why won't you talk to me already? What is it that bothers you so much about S.H.I.E.L.D.? What is it you're not telling me? Because I thought we agreed that this secret keeping crap would be over with after what happened two months ago." Scarlett continued before Tony could respond and he merely stared at her while she ranted. "You have no idea how hard it is for me to be honest with you or with anyone about anything. My whole life was a giant secret for twenty years, maybe longer, I don't like to _think_ about how long."

"I know, no secrets." Tony shook his head but did he mean that in reality? It was one thing for him to tell Scarlett he didn't want _her_ to keep secrets but it when came to divulging his own inner demons it wasn't nearly as easy. He wanted her to be honest and for him to keep his insecurities to himself. It was a nasty double standard, but to be fair, Tony was still working on this relationship thing. "Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad, I'm frustrated."

"Aren't those the same thing?"

"No, they aren't." Scarlett placed her hand to her forehead and grimaced. "I'm going to talk to S.H.I.E.L.D. Tony. It's just a discussion. But you know in the end I have to make some kind of deal with them. Not for me but for us. I can't keep being this secret woman in the newspaper who stole your heart and who the media knows nothing about. Eventually they're going to find out who I am and S.H.I.E.L.D. can help take care of the fallout before it hits the ground."

"I don't care about any of that, Scarlett."

"I know you don't care about your reputation, your history makes that perfectly clear."

"_Hey_." Tony furrowed his brow, but there wasn't much he could say to argue against what she said. Sometimes Scarlett was brutally honest and Tony wasn't sure he was prepared for it.

"_Your_ history isn't going to get you imprisoned for the rest of your life, mine will." Scarlett furrowed her brow. "This is something I have to do if we want to be together."

"So was chasing MedCo and look how that ended up." Tony snapped and Scarlett, taken aback, ran her tongue over her bottom teeth and curled her lip in a sneer. "I didn't mean that."

"You did." Scarlett placed her hand on her hip. "Yeah, that was something I had to do too Tony, but I was wrong about how I did it. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't realize I was fighting for the wrong reasons. I thought I was protecting _you_. And you think you're protecting me now but for once I'm doing the right thing."

"Scarlett!" Tony finally got up from the couch. He considered finally telling her what scared him and why he didn't want her running into danger just yet. But when he opened his mouth to spill his guts his tongue seemed to swell up and get in his way. Instead he placed his hands on her shoulders which she initially shoved off. Stubbornly he placed them on her shoulders again and pulled her close to him. His fingers brushed down her arms and to her hands, which he grabbed and pulled close to the reactor in his chest. With that simple touch her anger melted away and she looked at him worried.

"Talk to me, Tony." She pled, hoping that he'd continue with what she thought he might finally tell her.

"I have a bad feeling." Was all Tony managed to say at long last. It was more than he had managed to say in weeks past so in Tony's mind it seemed like progress. But Scarlett felt frustrated. "I can't explain it but I have a bad feeling about all of this."

"If I don't approach S.H.I.E.L.D. then _this_ is going to keep happening." Scarlett pointed to the cut on her lower lip and smiled a little bit. She understood that Tony was going through something he wasn't ready to share even if it frustrated her that she couldn't fix the problem in front of her. Scarlett was a problem solver and when Tony wouldn't let her fix his problem, she grew irritated. But the fear in his eyes, the worry and concern she saw dripping from them alleviated her annoyance enough that she could deal with it a little easier. "S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't going to leave me alone and I have to do something about it."

"I know." Tony mentally deflated. It was true. How could he keep her from approaching S.H.I.E.L.D. if S.H.I.E.L.D. kept approaching her on a weekly basis? Either they had to put a stop to S.H.I.E.L.D. interference in her life or she had to go and make a deal. Since it wasn't likely that S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to back off, particularly when Natasha and Clint were so hell bent on getting her to join their ranks, the only option was for her to approach them. Realistically he knew that he couldn't stop her from joining them.

He'd known it for weeks and he should have considered himself lucky that she'd waited this long to put a stop to the sudden onslaught of chaos in the middle of her already hectic life. Tony had asked much of Scarlett since the inception of their relationship. There was no reason he couldn't support her in this _one_ decision and yet he couldn't seem to. They had argued over it every which way, but the outcome was always the same. Tony knew he couldn't tell her to stay out of harm's way when _he_ was Iron Man and put himself into dangerous situations all the time. It was another nasty double standard that Tony wished Scarlett would let go.

"It's okay that you're worried." Scarlett pulled her hands away from his and gently placed them on the sides of his neck, taking a step closer to him. She offered a small encouraging smile, hoping it would ease the mood between them even if it was just a little.

"I'm _not_ worried."

"Fine, you're not worried." Scarlett sighed heavily and moved close enough so she could rest her body against his. The macho tough guy façade was hard to break but Scarlett saw right through it. "But it's okay if you are."

"Is it?"

"It is. I worry about you too, you know."

"I know you do." Tony nodded resolutely, placing his hand on her hip. Scarlett ran her fingers through his neatly cropped hair and leaned to capture his lips in a soft kiss. It was enough to temporarily distract Tony from his worry. Scarlett had a way of doing that. When she kissed him just right, it took away every doubt and fear he had in the forefront of his mind. "If you keep kissing me like that then I won't worry about anything."

"I thought you _weren't_ worried." Scarlett kissed the corner of Tony's mouth then his lips again, whispering her words to him. Tony smiled at long last and Scarlett felt relieved before capturing his lips in hers. Her fingers gently traced down the length of his arm before urging it tighter around her.

"I'm not," He muttered in response between kisses.

"Uh-huh." Scarlett nodded, continuing to kiss him. If she couldn't relieve his fears and if he wasn't willing to yet share them, then Scarlett would distract him entirely from the matter at hand. Fighting would do nothing but stress him out further and Tony needed sleep to be in his right mind. Tony shivered under her touch, shaking out his arm in attempt to rid it of its goose bumps before resting it on her backside.

"I'm really not." He whispered, kissing her between words.

"Sure, sure." Tony placed both arms around her and lifted her off of the ground. She wrapped her legs around his middle and kissed over his neck.

"I'm _not_." Scarlett picked her head up from the kisses she'd left on his neck and gave him a knowing look. Of course Scarlett could see right through his denial. It didn't mean he'd admit it was true.

"You talk too much." Scarlett returned to his lips, resting her hand on his cheek before running her fingers into his hair, deepening the kiss. Tony carried her back down the hall, leaving the pizza on the living room coffee table. The night hadn't gone the way he had hoped it would and there would be new worries in the morning to deal with but all either of them worried about for the rest of the night was whether or not they would make it back to the bedroom. Tony left the shirt Scarlett had been wearing in the hallway before carrying her back into the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind him.


	4. Golden Slumbers

"Miss Damien?" Jarvis' voice echoed from the hallway, calling to Scarlett in her master bedroom through the half open door. Seated next to Tony on her bed with pillows propped up behind her, Scarlett remained wide awake. She'd spent the few hours remaining before sunrise paging through the legal documents that Jarvis had retrieved for her the day before. After they'd made love Tony had at long last found rest, exhausted after days of avoiding sleeping. This had become routine for the couple. They'd spend days awake until one or the other passed out for ten hours and caught up on the slumber they had been so deprived of.

"One sec, Jarvis." Scarlett checked to make sure that the man lying next to her remained sound asleep. Sprawled across half her bed, with his mouth hanging wide open as he snored, Tony was as comfortable as he could be. Adjusting the blankets that had slipped off of him at some point, Scarlett watched him sleep for a second longer until she was sure that moving wouldn't disturb him. Tony was sleeping and so intensely that she was sure that short of her deliberately shoving him he would remain that way.

Carefully she crawled out of bed and grabbed her robe from the back of her door. She wrapped it around her over her nightgown and shivered under the cold fabric. Stealing one more glance back at Tony to make sure he was still resting, Scarlett left the bedroom. She closed the door behind her until it was only open the slightest crack. She hadn't been able to sleep after Tony had passed out next to her despite numerous attempts. The fight they'd had the night before repeated in her mind as did the options that lay in front of her.

"What is it, Jarvis?" Scarlett walked through the hallway, past her office and into the kitchen where she immediately flipped on the coffee maker. It was obvious she wasn't going to get any chance to sleep that day so she might as well make the best of it. "And check the heat. It's getting cold."

"Miss Potts is outside the door looking for Mr. Stark. I wouldn't let her ring the bell as you specified last time." Scarlett's shoulders slumped and she hung her head. Looking again toward the door Scarlett wondered how much time she could buy her boyfriend before he would have to wake up and go to whatever meeting Pepper was retrieving him for. If she had it her way she would let him sleep the day away simply so he could catch up. His lack of sleep concerned her and though she was losing almost as much sleep on his account, it was something she was used to. Tony was obviously the eight hours a day type given his lifestyle over the years. It would be almost impossible to talk Pepper into letting him rest. Scarlett had absolutely no leeway when it came to Pepper Potts.

It wasn't that Scarlett didn't _like_ Pepper. No, she had nothing against Tony's red headed prim and proper assistant. It was Pepper that had something against _Scarlett_. They tried to make things work for Tony's sake but neither one of them had been able to find a reason to befriend the other. When they'd first met Pepper had admired Scarlett for her ability to resist Tony's charms. But over time Pepper had suspected that Scarlett's motives may have been more than sinister. She had been right.

The real problem was that Pepper had seen _exactly_ what Scarlett had planned to do so when the betrayal came to fruition Pepper had solidified it in her mind that Scarlett was using Tony. What had happened between them wasn't as simple as one using the other. When Scarlett had given up her past life to be with Tony her darker motives had been completely abandoned. Pepper had never quite forgiven her for how she'd hurt Tony even if she'd had her reasons. It turned out that Pepper was rather overprotective of her boss. They had become very close over the years and she had been his caretaker for longer than she could remember.

Scarlett begrudgingly walked to her front door and looked out the peephole just to confirm it was really Pepper. There was little doubt in her mind that Pepper was there to retrieve Tony. Knowing she couldn't ignore the woman, Scarlett opened the door and welcomed her inside with a smile. Just because they hadn't bonded didn't mean Scarlett couldn't be polite and even carry a conversation with Pepper.

Pepper was about as tall as Scarlett with light freckles across her skin to match her reddish blond hair. She took one look at the pizza box on the coffee table and then at Scarlett whose lip was still split and looked like she hadn't slept at all and seemingly knew what had happened the night before.

"You didn't sleep again." Pepper seemed exhausted by the idea of dealing with it. When Tony didn't sleep he was more than a handful to be around. He never wanted to do what was on his schedule and she had to manipulate and drag him all over Manhattan to get anything accomplished. It was easier on the days where Scarlett could come with them. For whatever reason, Scarlett had the magic touch when it came to Tony.

"It's that obvious, is it?" Scarlett looked over her shoulder at Pepper and then nodded to the coffee pot that was dripping away. She could've just asked Jarvis to get coffee for her but Scarlett preferred to do what she could on her own ninety percent of the time. Tony relied so heavily on Jarvis and Pepper sometimes that Scarlett wasn't sure what he'd do if both of them disappeared at the same time. While she was sure that Tony could fend for himself if absolutely necessary, he didn't seem to _want_ to if he didn't have to. "Coffee?"

"You're usually impeccably clean. The only way you would've left _that_ there is if Tony distracted you or you were exhausted." Pepper waved to the pizza box in the living room and then shook her head at the coffee pot. "No, thank you. I've already had some this morning." Conversation between the two women in Tony's life was _always_ awkward. Pepper had never forgiven Scarlett for getting them into so much trouble. From the moment Tony had brought Scarlett home from the wreckage of the MedCo building in South Africa danger and mayhem had practically stalked her.

Men in black suits had hunted her down at every opportunity. On more than one occasion Pepper, Tony, and Happy had been caught in the crossfire. Pepper had never been convinced that Scarlett was worth the hell that they had gone through. Scarlett hadn't asked any of them to care for her; in fact she had asked them to stay out of it. Tony had been using Scarlett to get information about MedCo since they had been using Stark Industry weapons for their arms dealing. Scarlett had been hoping to discover that Tony was secretly funding MedCo's endeavors so she could reveal his true identity to the press and destroy his career. They'd both been guilty of deceit, but Scarlett's deceit had been more destructive in Pepper's opinion. She had never understood why Tony had become so attached to a woman who had done nothing but deceive him. But still she had watched them fall in love and that she understood.

Despite Pepper's grudge against Scarlett she couldn't discourage Tony from pursuing her. She had never seen Tony so in love before and even though he ground on her nerves half the time, he deserved happiness.

"Or a bit of both." Scarlett leaned against the counter near the coffee pot and shrugged her shoulder. "What does he have to do today? You're obviously here to fetch him. I know you're not here to chat with_ me_."

"There's a meeting about the test facility we're building upstate for the energy project." Pepper nodded out the large windows that showed the view of Manhattan below. It was a foggy cold day outside and the view of the city was almost haunting. Even in the worst of weather, Manhattan was beautiful.

"What can I do to get him out of it?" Scarlett poured a cup of coffee once the timer had gone off to let her know the pot was finished brewing. She quickly added cream and two sugars into her mug before taking a long drink of it. It was amazing how reliant she'd become on the drink over the last two months. Considering she wasn't sleeping she was sure that her blood was seventy percent coffee by this point.

"Scarlett…" Pepper began in a scolding tone. Sometimes dealing with Scarlett had been much easier than dealing with Tony because she had been able to convince him that he needed to get out and keep busy with his work. Scarlett seemed to have this magical way of handling Tony where he actually listened to her without much prying. Pepper had no idea how the woman did it or why Tony listened to her the way that he did. Sometimes it irritated her considering how long she'd known Tony but at the same time she knew that love did funny things to people. When it came down to it she was happy that Tony had someone that he felt comfortable around.

"Look, he only got a few hours of sleep at most and he is _finally_ resting soundly. It's been maybe four hours since he passed out, maybe less." Scarlett held up her hand and hoped she could reason with Pepper. "He's exhausted. Mentally and physically. The poor thing rarely manages this. Can't we postpone this meeting for a few hours? Make it an afternoon meeting, a working lunch if you will." Pepper seemed to be tossing the idea around in her mind but Scarlett could already tell the answer was no.

"Has he told you why he can't sleep yet?" Pepper seemed hopeful that maybe the discussion that _needed_ to happen had finally happened.

"No, every time I ask about it he gets defensive." Scarlett folded her arms over her chest and leaned against the island in her kitchen where she took a very long sip from her mug. It wouldn't be very long before it was empty. "He woke me after an hour or two of sleep and we ordered pizza. I managed to get him to rest in my bed but he's… it's not enough, Pepper. Let him have this day. Make an excuse of some kind. Say there was an emergency with me. I'll pretend to be sick if I have to. Tell people he's taking care of me. That should soften the blow, right?"

"He's got to stop staying up all night. I've picked up at least ten natural alternatives to the heavy medication he refuses to take. He won't touch any of it."

"He says he feels like he's menstruating when you try to make him drink sleepy time tea." Scarlett couldn't help but smile and Pepper instantly rolled her eyes. "I know. I _know_. I got him to try a few things but none of it works for very long. Falling asleep isn't the problem, Pepper. It's staying asleep."

"And _you're_ not sleeping either so it doesn't make this any easier for either of us." Pepper rolled her eyes and walked over to the living room table where she promptly began to clean up the pizza mess. Pepper was habitually cleaning up after Tony as she always had. It helped to calm her nerves by putting his chaos back into order.

"Well, I can't very well let him go through this alone, whatever it is." Scarlett cocked a curious eyebrow. Pepper threw a look over her shoulder and sighed deeply.

"You _could_. Tony's stubborn. You need to sleep too. You're both going to end up in the nuthouse at this rate." Pepper's voice had softened despite her objections. "If _you_ slept maybe it would encourage him to sleep."

"It's not that simple, I've tried. I sleep just fine. He doesn't want me to be awake. He feels guilty when I am because of him even if he won't admit it."

"You fed into the habit of keeping him company and now he won't _let_ you sleep."

"If he's going through something and the most he can ask of me is to keep him some company then I'm happy to do it." Scarlett shrugged and poured a second cup of coffee. "That's what this is for. At least I bought a nice coffee maker, it makes things a little easier." She joked in hopes of changing the mood but she could practically feel Pepper's scowl behind her.

"I'm sorry Scarlett, but we've canceled and rearranged this meeting a dozen times already. He _has_ to show up or they're going to put the program on the backburner."

"Isn't this more important?" Scarlett's attempts to stop being a workaholic and live her life happily with Tony had changed her views on many things and that included the need to sacrifice one's health for their career. Tony needed sleep and Stark Industries certainly wasn't doing poorly. "He hasn't been up to working on the converter recently anyway, so why do we need a test site for it?"

"Because that's why we moved here to begin with. We got funding through New York State before he met you and if they don't see us working on it then they're going to pull funding. No amount of Tony's charm can help him if Tony isn't _there_ to be charming." Pepper rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure why Tony's charm worked on much of anybody but that was likely because she'd spent so much time watching him manipulate those around him. It was part of what made Tony such a brilliant business man. He could get anyone to do anything and think that he was doing _them_ a favor.

"Alright, I get it." Scarlett set down her cup. Pepper wasn't trying to put business before Tony, Scarlett knew that. But she understood why they'd never worked out as a couple. Pepper and Tony had different priorities in their life and neither one was used to compromise. Pepper's features softened as she watched the gears turn in Scarlett's head. She really _did_ care for Tony and even if it she didn't trust Scarlett, she had to respect that. Scarlett loved Tony and more importantly, at least to her, Tony loved Scarlett.

"I'm not trying to be the bad guy."

"You're not the bad guy, Pepper. You're doing your job." Scarlett shook her head and set her coffee cup down on the counter. "I'm worried about him, that's all." Scarlett walked closer to Tony's assistant who bobbed her head in recognition.

"I'm glad you're looking out for him, I _really_ am. But he has to be there this morning or he's going to lose this gig and we moved here for no reason." Pepper nodded toward the cityscape out the window.

"He needs time to get ready." Scarlett relented at long last with a deep breath. "I'll wake him and send him down when he's showered and dressed. But you know how he is when he doesn't want to get out of bed, so I can't promise how quickly this will happen."

"And it's even worse when you're with him." Pepper rolled her eyes. Tony had to be practically dragged out of bed like a ten year old who didn't want to go to school when he finally managed to get sleep. When Scarlett was sleeping next to him he used every trick he could think of in order to stay there with her.

"I'll take care of it. Go have breakfast or something. There's a Starbucks around the corner and pumpkin is back. From what I hear it's pretty significant." Scarlett walked to her front door and held it open to urge Pepper on her way.

"Fine." Pepper threw the pizza box, folded up, into the trash can near the counter and started out the door. As she was halfway out the door she turned her attention back to Scarlett and smiled sincerely. "Thank you."

"It's no problem. Thanks for giving me this extra time to prep him." Scarlett offered a half hearted gesture of gratitude while watching Pepper leave. "Damn." Scarlett exhaled as she closed the front door. "Jarvis, make Tony his usual latte. He doesn't like the way I make it."

"It's the same exact coffee, Miss Damien. I find that unlikely." Jarvis sounded puzzled. "You are excellent at such things."

"Aw, thank you. But still he says mine tastes funny." Scarlett proceeded carefully toward her room with a smile.

"It is statistically impossible that it tastes any different."

"Yes, we both know that. Can you do it for me anyway?"

"For you, anything. It's on its way."

"Well then why did you argue with me?" Scarlett laughed. Sometimes the computer was more like Tony than either wanted to admit. Tony had joked over time that Jarvis had a crush on Scarlett. Sometimes Scarlett wondered if there was some truth to that. When asked, Jarvis explained that he was not programmed to feel such emotions. It had become clear with time that Jarvis was biased when it came to Scarlett though he would never admit it.

"I was _not_ arguing."

"Oh, don't start with me. I already have to drag one stubborn man out of bed, I don't have the energy to explain the definition of arguing to you." Scarlett shook her finger in no particular direction. When she opened the door to the master bedroom again, Jarvis didn't respond. She had him muted in the bedroom unless it was an emergency so that he would never disturb Tony on the off chance he would actually manage to get some sleep at night.

Scarlett sat down on the bed next to Tony who had curled up underneath the blankets and now hugged the pillow underneath him. He seemed peaceful for the first time in a long time. Her stomach churned at the idea of waking him just so he could go to some dull meeting. It didn't seem important in the span of things. Surely Tony could be late and still manage to keep his deal with the state of New York. And if he couldn't, did it matter? They could apply for funding elsewhere. Hell, Scarlett would provide the money if she had to.

Scarlett brushed her fingers through his short trimmed hair gingerly. He stirred and leaned into her touch but didn't open his eyes. She couldn't help but smile. At least she offered him comfort while he slept since she couldn't seem to during the waking hours.

"Tony…" If she could coax him gently out of sleep at least he'd have a good start to his day. Tony grunted and squirmed on the bed then squinted and peered at her with one eye open. It took him ten seconds to realize exactly what was happening.

Scarlett was waking him up to send him to work.

Closing his eye again with another grunt he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back into bed with him. Laughing, Scarlett tried to push his arms off of her but he had successfully managed to replace the pillow he'd been holding with her. "No! No, you can't do this! You _have_ to get up!"

"Ten more minutes." Tony muttered, resting his head against her chest and nuzzling into her bosom.

"No, not ten more minutes." Scarlett tried to squirm out of Tony's arms but he only reaffirmed his grip. This had gotten them into trouble with Pepper on more than one occasion but she hadn't figured out how to get out of it yet. That was mostly due to the fact that she didn't _want_ to escape. She wanted to give in.

"Fifteen minutes?"

"No, Tony! That is the _opposite_ of a compromise."

"Thirty?" He yawned but opened his eyes half lidded. He placed his chin on her chest so he could look up at her. Scarlett stopped squirming and placed a hand on his shoulder, offering up a sympathetic smile. "I don't _want_ to work." He pouted dramatically and batted his large eyes. Scarlett shook her head in dismay.

"Puppy dog eyes won't work on Pepper, you know." Scarlett relaxed in his arms with a heavy feeling. She felt guilty waking him up.

"I tried it once before after I realized it worked on you. She asked if I had something in my eye." Tony yawned and closed his eyes again, nuzzling against her once more in an attempt to get comfortable.

"I tried to get you out of it but it didn't work."

"Pepper likes you _way_ less than she likes me." Tony nodded knowingly. "I appreciate the effort though."

"I think I'm growing on her." Scarlett said with wishful thinking and Tony made a sound that clearly told Scarlett she was _very_ wrong about her assumption. "Well, _fine_ then. Either way, you have to get up and put on your big boy pants today."

"I am too tired to work." Tony turned away from Scarlett's gaze, sure that his eyes were incriminating that early in the morning. Scarlett often saw through any guise he tried to throw at her. Spending so much time together had given them each the opportunity to discover the other's tell. Scarlett's was much harder to find than Tony's. It turned out the billionaire often wore his heart on his sleeve.

"I know." Leaning up on her elbow, Scarlett tilted his chin up to look at her with her motions. "But if you get up and go to work _now_ then I'll help you get ready and we can come back to your place later and have a nap together." Scarlett offered with an encouraging smile. Bribery worked very well with Tony.

"But we _never_ nap when we say we're going to nap." Tony's eyebrows rose high on his forehead at the implications and the hint of a smile rested at the corner of his mouth.

"That is the _point_ of taking a nap together, Tony." Scarlett laughed, offering him a playful smirk. Weighing his options Tony eventually nodded and released Scarlett from his grip.

"Okay, that's a deal." Tony slowly sat up and slumped forward. He swung his legs lazily over the side of the bed and leaned his elbows on his knees before holding his head in his hands. The lack of sleep was catching up with him and he felt a sharp pulse in the back of his head. "I'm way too tired for this."

"Here," Scarlett untangled her legs from the blankets that Tony had brought with him when he'd practically tackled her and got out of bed. Crouching in front of him she took both of his hands and kissed the back of them. Tony watched her, enamored that she was trying to help him in any way that she could. He turned down her help at every avenue and yet she ignored that and helped him regardless.

"Scarlett, you don't have to." Tony whispered seriously. He tried to hide his guilty conscience but he wasn't sure how successful he'd been.

"Will you shut up already?" Scarlett laughed and still holding both his hands carefully led him off of the bed and toward her bathroom. It wasn't that she thought he wasn't perfectly capable of taking care of himself it was that she thought he deserved to be cared for every so often by someone who loved him and wasn't being paid to care. Tony suspected that secretly Scarlett was comforted when she took care of him.

"You know that's like the one thing I actually _can't_ do." Tony smirked, following her at long last into the bathroom. He'd argued with her about this before, mostly because he wasn't sure how to deal with someone caring for him in such a way but he no longer put up much of a fight. When it came down to it Tony actually really enjoyed Scarlett taking care of him and getting him ready for work. It was cute. And while being cute felt rather silly to them both, it also felt incredibly nice. After the craziness they had gone through together and before they'd met each other, didn't they deserve a _little_ happiness?

"I'm more than aware. Come on, you have to shower."

"You're coming with me, right? That's the _only_ way I will shower this morning." Tony cocked his eyebrows up and down comically.

"Oh, how I'd like to." Scarlett laughed and shook her head no as she opened the glass door to the shower. Turning on the hot water, she prepared it for Tony so he could hopefully wake up enough to get some work done. "Unfortunately, we will never get out of there in time and both end up falling asleep again if we do that together. I'm afraid you will have to brave the soap alone. And you can't say no because you stink." Scarlett bowed her head apologetically. "The good news is that I have a very nice suit all laid out for you already. Jarvis is making your latte with an extra shot of espresso so it'll be ready when you're all done. You're scruffy so we have to give you a nice shave too."

"How am I supposed to want to leave when you're doing this?" Tony whined as he walked into the shower without her. "You're spoiling me. They are not going to spoil me where I'm going."

"Says the world's most spoiled human being. You will survive a few hours without me." Scarlett called over the running water. While he showered she would pick out a suit for him to wear as she had promised. When he left clothes behind at her place she had Jarvis send it off to be dry cleaned so there was something there for him the next time he inevitably fell asleep either on her couch or in her arms in bed. He called to her from the shower but Scarlett couldn't hear what he said though she's sure it was some kind of smart ass remark.

It was true that she was spoiling him rotten but she couldn't help but feel responsible for his lack of sleep. Something _she_ had done was inevitably the reason that he wasn't finding sleep at night or suffering from some kind of nightmare. He hadn't openly admitted that was the reason but Scarlett wasn't stupid and she most certainly wasn't naïve. It was the very least she could do to take care of him after the pain she'd caused. Plus, when it came to being with Tony she _wanted_ to take care of him. That hadn't happened to Scarlett not even once before in any relationship she'd ever been in.

She took this as a good sign. At least she _wanted_ to make this particular boyfriend happy. When it came to her last relationship she couldn't care less what he'd wanted and only kept him around because it had been easier than constantly turning him down with how persistent he'd been for so long. She'd been in relationships out of habit before meeting Tony. She had a nasty history of sabotaging any of the good ones, so the fact that things were going decently well with Tony despite their ups and downs _had_ to be a good thing. Even when they fought they found a way to make up and recover.

Scarlett heard the water turn off after she'd finished cleaning the bedroom from the night before. Joining Tony in the bathroom she found him rubbing his hand over his jaw that had become scruffy overnight. That was partially why he'd decided to grow the goatee he'd become known for. It only took him a week to grow it, so what was the point of shaving it off every damn day?

"Here…" Tony opened the top drawer in the bathroom to the left of the sink and pulled out his razor blade and shaving cream. It was very rarely that Tony did it himself anymore. After Scarlett had done it for him _one_ time he'd grown addicted. There had been times when she'd been busy early in the morning and he'd interrupted her day just so she would come back and shave his goatee so he could go out.

Knowing it wasn't worth arguing over anymore, Scarlett picked up the coffee that Jarvis had delivered to her moments prior and walked into the bathroom. She handed him the coffee and then jumped onto the bathroom counter next to the shaving kit. Without a word Scarlett let Tony take a drink of his coffee before spraying shaving foam into her hands.

When he put the drink down and instead placed his hands on her hips she lathered up his jaw appropriately. Before she picked up the razor blade, Tony pushed her legs apart and slipped between them against the counter. She looked at him skeptically.

"We don't have time for this, Tony." Having watched him adjust her, she knew _exactly_ what he was up to. The worst part was that she was very much contemplating what he hadn't even offered yet. This was precisely what Pepper had meant when she'd said that getting Tony out of bed was even harder when he was with Scarlett.

"We have whatever time we want. Pepper can wait." Tony tugged at the bottom of her nightgown playfully. Scarlett purposely looked away from his wet abdomen, swallowed the lump in her throat and forced him to tilt his chin upward. He hadn't made much of an attempt to try off and she guessed that was by design. Tony knew his strengths and used them to his advantage at every opportunity.

"You _have_ to go to this meeting, Tony." She whispered, but his hands crept eagerly behind her. "Stand _still_."

"I'm very stiff. I mean still."

"You're groping me, that's not still." Scarlett carefully ran the razor over his jaw, making sure not to cut him but to get the scruff that had grown from the day before. The truth was that every time they did this Tony hadn't kept his hands to himself. Had she really expected him to do that this time? Probably not, but it didn't change the fact that she felt the need to scold him about it. That was half the fun. When she wiped the shaving cream off of the razor nearby on a towel she'd set out, Tony leaned to kiss her neck. Scarlett laughed and leaned away from the kiss. "Hey! Messy!"

"Sorry, sorry…" Tony leaned his head up again and cleared his throat but wasn't remotely sorry. Half the shaving cream he'd had on his face was now on her neck. Scarlett smacked his cheek purposely and spread the shaving cream higher on his face. "Hey!"

"You started it."

"You are going to get me in trouble with Pepper."

"_You_ are going to get _me_ into trouble with Pepper." Scarlett scolded and held his chin still again before continuing to shave along his jaw. It was meticulous work at first and when she'd given it her first try weeks ago; her hands had shaken terribly. Now that she'd done it numerous times she was far less nervous and more adept with the blade.

"I'm starting to think we should just pretend we're not here when she comes back for me." Tony whispered with a smirk, leaning to kiss her neck again as she wiped off the blade once more. "But _you_ have a very hard time being quiet in these situations…"

"My god, you just can't help yourself can you?"

"You know the answer to that already. I can remind you if you like." He muttered against her neck. Scarlett seriously considered letting it go and dealing with the fallout of his business later so they could steal another hour together as his remaining whiskers tickled her neck and gave her shivers. "I don't hear you objecting."

"I'm holding a very sharp object." Scarlett glanced toward the door in hopes of catching the time on her clock in the other room. Tony hiked the lace of her nightgown up, adjusting it so it wasn't trapped beneath her on the counter. The slightest hint of his hands on her flesh made her shiver but she did her best to hide it.

"That was weak, not even the usual half hearted "oh Tony don't, please stop." Tony did his best imitation of her that he could manage though it was terrible. Scarlett laughed and went to continue when a shrill ringing from the coat pocket of the suit Scarlett had hung up at the other end of the room interrupted them. "Ignore it."

"It's Pepper." Scarlett laughed, holding up the razor blade again as menacingly as she could manage. Tony grabbed her wrist and pulled the razor carefully from her hands and threw it behind him as far as he could. "We don't have time for this. _You_ don't have time."

"I'm taking that as a compliment." Tony kissed over her wrist and closed his eyes. He'd vowed when they'd returned from Moscow with their lives that he wouldn't waste another moment and that was precisely what he was doing.

"Mr. Stark, Miss Potts is calling for you." Jarvis echoed throughout the bathroom, bringing up a screen in preparation of transmitting the video call.

"No! Jarvis! Not video! Cancel the video! Naked! Abort! Abort!" Tony swatted the screen away and it disappeared from view just in time. Instead an audio symbol next to Pepper's name appeared next to them. Tony leaned his head against Scarlett's chest again and groaned in annoyance.

"Scarlett? Tony's not answering his phone. We're going to be late for our meeting and I can only stall for so long!" Pepper sounded exasperated on the other end of the line. "Do you need my help getting him out the door?"

"I need exactly none of your help!" Tony responded. Scarlett covered his mouth but stifled a laugh. He bit at her fingers playfully.

"He's being difficult. I'm not surprised."

"I'm not difficult." Tony whispered kissing at Scarlett's neck again and purposely ignoring Pepper. "She's difficult."

"We're almost done, Pepper. He needed a shower and now a shave. Give us ten more minutes."

"Twenty more minutes."

"Ten." Scarlett clarified.

"Fine, but that's it." Pepper had a way of transmitting her annoyance through the phone even though they couldn't see the angry look on her face.

"Thank you!" Scarlett called as Jarvis hung up.

"No thank you! How is it she _still_ manages to interrupt us even now?" Tony pouted as Scarlett urged his lips again away from her neck and where they'd drifted down her chest. She was a shaving cream mess now, but that was how it always ended up when she helped him out in the morning.

When they'd first been dancing around the inevitable romance that had blossomed between the two of them, the only reason it hadn't progressed as quickly as Tony wanted it to was because Pepper had managed to interrupt them at nearly every occasion they'd had to get close.

Tony had joked that she was not only his assistant but also his personal cock block. Scarlett hadn't agreed with him until the interruptions had persisted even after their relationship had gotten this far.

"To be fair, you are practically humping my leg every time we're together." Scarlett swatted his shoulder and then climbed off of the counter. After fixing her nightgown she retrieved the razorblade that Tony had thrown across the room. Tony was sipping his coffee, getting shaving cream all over the cup. "You are never getting out of here at this rate."

"That is exactly what I'm going for." He pointed out, tilting his head to the side as he watched her walk away. If he had to leave there was no reason he couldn't enjoy himself. Scarlett returned to the counter and lathered his chin up for the fourth time then finished shaving his goatee while he spoke.

"I have things to do today too, Tony." She whispered, careful not to trap herself between Tony and the counter again.

"I had every intention of having you be that thing I do today." Tony pouted comically once she'd finished.

"Stop it." Scarlett laughed and turned the water on in the sink, rinsing off the razor blade. Tony washed his face and slapped aftershave on his chin before turning back to her. "God you're still all wet and… okay, go get dressed." Scarlett waved him away from her. Tony laughed and purposely flexed to tease her. "Don't forget that nap later!" She called from the bedroom. "Put your clothes on. God, why would I ever say that? Pepper owes me." Scarlett muttered under her breath, picking out something to wear for the remainder of her day. After he left, she'd have to get ready to run her own errands. It had taken much longer to get Tony out the door than she had anticipated.

Tony watched Scarlett walk out of the bathroom and sighed heavily. Despite how playful he was being the demons in the back of his mind were in full force. He'd slept at long last, but it hadn't been nearly long enough to shake the weariness from his bones. His attempts to ignore his responsibilities had only been half sincere. He knew that he had to do his work and run his company, but if he could steal a few more minutes of happiness with Scarlett than he would. Maybe if he did something to work off his steam and have some genuine fun out on the town it would help ease his worried mind. He doubted that was the truth, but it couldn't hurt. He'd ask Scarlett about it later if he got the chance to.

"Are you dressed yet?" Scarlett peeked in the bathroom, half expecting to see him there half naked and dripping as he had been before as if to taunt her.

"Unfortunately." Tony was finishing buttoning up his light blue shirt. Scarlett walked into the bathroom and swatted his hands away from the buttons. She straightened his collar and smoothed out the front of his shirt. Then she grabbed his tie and draped it around his neck before tying it for him and tightening it just enough. He couldn't help but smile. "I think you might love me."

"No way, I'm fantasizing about choking you right now." Scarlett fixed his collar over his tie and then handed him his jacket.

"Kinky, I like it." Tony grabbed at her nightgown again and she swatted his hands away.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? Now get out there and go to your meeting." Once he'd slipped on his jacket, Scarlett smacked his butt playfully. Nearly jumping a mile he turned around and reached for her but she ran out of the way and back into the bathroom. He followed after her.

"Don't start what you can't finish, Scarlett!" Tony pointed an accusing finger at her as she walked out of the bedroom and down the hallway. He followed, catching up to her and placed his hands at her sides, leaning purposely to brush his now perfectly manicured scruff against the side of her neck.

"If I recall you are the one who doesn't have the time to finish it." Scarlett turned in his arms near the front door and pointed an accusing finger at him. Tony bit at her finger but she pulled it out of his reach before he could get it. Despite how playful they were being Tony could see the worry in her blue eyes. She wanted to send him to his meeting about as much as he wanted to go to it. Both of them knew there was no way around it. Why neither one of them said what was on their mind, they weren't quite sure.

"Don't tempt me." Tony bridged the gap between them with every intention of kissing her but stopped with his lips against her as there was a knock on the door. He sighed and gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Miss Potts is here," Jarvis chimed in, as if they couldn't already tell who was behind the door.

"I swear to _god…_"

"It's not her fault you're a _little_ slutty." Scarlett defended Pepper instantly.

"You know she doesn't like you right? You don't have to be nice about this stuff. You should be mad. You are aware of exactly what she's making you miss." Tony smirked, remaining close to her lips, feeling her hot breath on his lips.

"I'm not nice, I'm honest." Scarlett shook her head slightly but didn't pull away.

"I'm holding you to that nap later." Tony kissed her at long last and reluctantly released her from his arms. The small taste of her lips wasn't enough to relieve the ache in his chest, but it would have to do for the time being.

"Okay, you slut. Get to work." Scarlett opened the door to her apartment and held it for him. Pepper gave her a knowing look and then pointed to her neck accusingly. "Damnit." Scarlett wiped the shaving cream off of her neck and then smiled apologetically.

"Not her fault, I'm very distracting. Be mad at me." Tony fixed his suit jacket, buttoned it up at the front, and then walked out the door. "I'll call after my meeting." Scarlett nodded and when they turned away she closed the door. She had a full day ahead of her and even though she would worry about Tony through most of it, she knew there was much to be done. Tony and Pepper walked down the hall in silence until they got to the elevator.

"When are you going to tell her?" Pepper was giving him that look again. It was a look that clearly disapproved of his behavior. She was glad for Tony, truly. It made her happy to see him happy, but he was keeping secrets and setting himself up for a fall. The damage it would do to the two of them if he screwed up their relationship with lies would be irreparable.

"Tell her what, Pepper?" Tony knew very well what Pepper was referring to but was hoping not to acknowledge it. He wanted to talk to her about it even less than he wanted to talk to Scarlett about.

"That the nightmares about _her_." Pepper placed her hands on her hips when the elevator opened at the bottom floor of the now bustling office. During the daylight hours Stark Tower was filled with employees working on changing the world of science. "That they're why you don't sleep."

"Let me think. _Never._" Tony nodded resolutely, waving to the security manager near the front door who screened employees for entry.

"Tony! You have got to tell her one way or another. And then you have to start sleeping again because I can't keep doing this. _You_ can't keep doing this. Hell, _she_ can't keep doing this. She's exhausted. Even if she's not telling you, she's wiped out." Pepper waited for Happy to open the backdoor of the town car for her before climbing inside. Tony did the same on the other side of it but didn't wait for Happy.

"What?" Tony tilted his head to the side curiously. It hadn't occurred to him that Scarlett was actually losing sleep because of him. Of course, it was an obvious conclusion to draw but he'd been so swept up in the fact that _he_ wasn't sleeping it didn't occur to him that Scarlett was losing just as much sleep if not more. She hadn't complained once about being tired and here he was whining every chance he got that he was exhausted.

"Didn't think about that, did you?" Pepper rolled her eyes and looked down at her phone, paging through the meetings that she'd had to rearrange in the past weeks. "You have to tell her."

"I will."

"When?"

"When I can." Tony muttered, looking down at his phone. Scarlett sent him a text message with a picture of his coffee and he held it up to Pepper and pouted.

"No, you're _not_ going back in there! Keep your pants on for an hour! We'll stop and get you a new coffee."

"You are absolutely no fun." Tony pouted and despite how badly he didn't want to go to his meeting, he no longer wanted to go back inside either. Tony wanted to clear his head. He wanted to be able to sleep. He wanted to keep Scarlett safe but he wanted her to be happy too. How was he ever going to fix what was going on in his head so he could keep the happiness they'd found together? On top of that, why didn't he feel like he _deserved_ what he was getting? Did she struggle the same way that he did with these thoughts? And if so why didn't she tell him?

It was probably for the same reason he didn't tell _her_. For the next few hours, Tony would have to explain why he had put off this very important meeting with investors after having worked so hard to get their approval in the first place. But in the back of his mind, Tony obsessed over the things beyond his control. Even when he wasn't asleep to have nightmares he worried about nightmares. It was a vicious cycle of events. Somehow Tony knew he wouldn't be sleeping again that night.


	5. Here Comes the Sun

The silence was uncomfortable in the small enclosed office on the Upper East Side between the doctor and his patient. Scarlett sat with her legs crossed, leaning back against the cushions of a cozy leather couch staring at the man in front of her who sat waiting expectantly in an equally cozy arm chair. He'd long since abandoned the notion of using a pad and paper to record her thoughts since it appeared she had very few of them that she was willing to share. This had gone on for weeks and he had asked her on the second visit if she wanted to cancel their meetings altogether. She had insisted that her money was as good as anyone else's and that she was still willing to come to the appointments if he was still willing to have her.

So the awkward meetings had continued once a week but no progress had been made and nothing had been said except for the occasional pleasantries two practical strangers would exchange. The doctor adjusted his thin framed glasses and cleared his throat. But Scarlett made no move to say anything and instead sat locked in her thoughts. Seeing a psychiatrist was something she had _promised_ that she'd do after the falling out with her ex-boyfriend. Between that, the manipulative corporations dangling her like a puppet, falling in love with Tony Stark, the torture she'd been through, and the betrayal she'd faced it seemed like the right thing to do.

Scarlett had kept her secrets for _so_ long that now sharing them with another human being, a stranger, felt next to impossible. Instead she sat on his couch week after week thinking of where to start and feeling completely overwhelmed by the enormity of screwed up things that had happened in the past year. If she got started on her whole _life,_ well, then this guy would be well paid until the day he died.

On top of that Scarlett felt guilt for even _being_ at the appointment. Tony thought she was off doing something silly like getting her hair or nails done, neither which were in Scarlett's regular routine. Lying to Tony was something she had vowed to stop doing but admitting that she needed a shrink was not in her vocabulary quite yet. She would work up to it if she ever actually worked up to _talking_ to the shrink.

"Miss Damien?" Percival Ganter, Percy for short, had been excited to take her on as a patient when he'd learned more about her from the press. When she'd first come in she'd been accompanied by lawyers who had made him sign privacy agreements in addition to the usual doctor-patient confidentiality that was implied upon her entering his office. Scarlett turned her gaze to her doctor whose sullen face and brown eyes were judging her without knowing anything about her. She was positive that by now he had garnered a number of things from her silence; the first being that she was obviously not so sure about sharing her private life with anyone. The second thing that seemed obvious to him was that she didn't trust him.

"Scarlett," she corrected politely. Scarlett had always been nothing but cordial during her visits. There had even been days where she'd shown up with muffins to break the tension but the meetings always ended the same; uncomfortable silence and nothing accomplished except Scarlett needing to beat the hell out of something to get the guilt out of her system.

"Scarlett," Percy corrected with a smile as he had every time he'd started on this tangent. He wasn't the kind of doctor who did what he did for the pay, even though that was a nice perk. He genuinely felt for Scarlett since she was obviously in some kind of distress. Each week he would try to get her to talk but he wondered now if it would be a fruitless endeavor until she finally gave up. Above all else, Percy did _not_ want Scarlett to give up. "You've been coming here for six weeks now and you have failed to say almost anything of note. When we first met you explained that you were in a new and complex relationship which you had a hard time adjusting to and had recently move to America and were in the process of becoming a citizen here."

"That's true." Scarlett confirmed. Her life from the outside looking in of the normal populace sounded incredibly boring.

"Other than that and learning a few odd habits about how you take your coffee and make pastries I know nothing about you. I think that it's about time we get to why you're really here and why you made me sign those papers." Scarlett looked surprised by Percy's sudden determination. It wasn't that he hadn't tried to get her to talk before, but this was the first time he had alluded to the fact that he knew her life was far more complex than she let on. This drew a smile from her lips even if her stomach was still aching with guilt.

She swore that this changing her life thing was going to give her a damn ulcer.

"To be honest, Doc, I don't know how to start." It was true, Scarlett had, on several occasions, spent ten minutes in her car in the parking garage around the corner coaching herself on how she planned to start the conversation in her next meeting with Percy. But when she'd sat down and really tried to figure out how to explain her history, she couldn't muster a word. That was partially why she'd made the doctor sign the confidentiality agreement to begin with. If she ended up sharing her past with him then it was likely she was going to tell him about all the illegal things she'd done over the years and that would cause her nothing but trouble in the future if she didn't take precautions to protect herself and most importantly to protect Tony.

"It's not about _where_ to start it's about _how._" Percy leaned forward, intrigued by this progress they had made. It still seemed like they were talking about nothing but the fact that Scarlett admitted she had a problem sharing was still admitting she had a problem. That was by far more progress than they had made thus far. "For example, you are obviously very worried about something at this particular moment. There is no beginning, just problems I can help you see in a new light and offer some insight to. Or even just an ear to listen. Often I'm just a soundboard. You are the only patient I have ever had who isn't willing to talk about herself. Most patients I can't get to be quiet."

"Considering the hourly fee, that makes sense." Scarlett joked as she often did when she was nervous. And it wasn't that she was actually nervous… or _was_ she? Scarlett wasn't used to being nervous and yet she had been and anxious at that in the months past. These were both very unfamiliar things for her. Percy laughed and shook his head.

"That's good. At least you're trying to deal with your nerves now."

"I don't like that you know that about me." Scarlett tapped her fingers against the couch and then shifted, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Well, this is going to be a very rough relationship if that's the case." Percy couldn't help but smile. "So tell me, what is it that's happened this past week that's eating at your mind. Forget about everything else that originally drove you here and start there."

"I need you to promise me something before we get into that, Doc." Scarlett clasped her hands together and looked up at the doctor who seemed nothing short of excited to finally start talking to his patient.

"What is that?"

"Anonymity. None of this will show up in some paper you write, some book, some article. Anything I tell you in here is strictly between you and me. Even if someone _threatened_ you, you wouldn't tell them a damn thing. I need to know that before I can say another word."

"I signed those papers…"

"And that was for legal reasons because you Americans are obsessed with suing each other." Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"And what _are_ you exactly if not American?"

"I'm…" Scarlett drifted off and considered what she was but her smile faded and she leaned back against the couch. She wasn't anything. Scarlett didn't _belong_ anywhere. She'd grown up in England but hadn't considered it home for many years. The only home she'd ever had was with Tony now in Manhattan and even then it had only been two months. According to the US government she was not yet a proper citizen. The motions were still being gone through, Pepper had seen to beginning proceedings as soon as she'd gotten the word that Scarlett had agreed to stay. "That's not important."

"Everyone's something, it seems important to me."

"That is another demon for another day. One I didn't realize I had until you said it. Is this how these appointments are going to go? Are you going to cause me _more_ problems than I come in with?"

"I didn't cause that problem, Scarlett. I just helped you realize you had it." Percy corrected and Scarlett smiled. Percy was quick witted and that was exactly what she needed. A doctor who couldn't keep up with her was useless. "But I promise you that nothing you say will leave this office. I hope that I'm never threatened because of our time together but I will do everything in my power to keep your secrets."

"I guess that's good enough." Scarlett mulled over her his words quietly before she opened her mouth to speak again. Maybe he was right. If she started from the beginning she'd be there for the rest of her life, but if she addressed what was really worrying her right at this moment it would be better than nothing. "My boyfriend isn't sleeping." She began at long last.

"And what is your boyfriend's name?"

"Tony." Scarlett cleared her throat. Eventually she would have to explain that her boyfriend was Tony Stark and also Iron Man, but that still sounded ridiculous when she said it out loud. Scarlett was grounded in skepticism despite the monster's she'd seen crawl out from under the bed. She wouldn't be surprised if Percy already knew that Tony was her boyfriend considering his press. "Tony isn't sleeping. Sometimes he doesn't sleep for days. Eventually he crashes and gets _some_ sleep but it's not often enough that happens. When we first got back to the States he slept but he'd wake up in a cold sweat or screaming at the top of his lungs." Scarlett swallowed the lump in the back of her throat. She'd never talked about Tony's issues out loud before and it felt strange.

"Are you sure that Tony isn't _you_, Scarlett?" Percy looked at her thoughtfully over the rim of his glasses.

"Look, I'm not doing this double talk crap. I'm being honest and if you're not going to take me seriously then this isn't going to work and I'm going to have to leave." Scarlett ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Do you know why Tony can't sleep? Has he been through a recent trauma?" Percy realized at that moment that Scarlett wasn't in denial. In fact, it was far from that. Scarlett seemed acutely aware of what her problems were it was just learning how to deal with them that she struggled with. He would never again question her honesty in his office.

"Yes, he did but we went through it together." Scarlett sighed heavily and held up her hand. "Before you ask what it is, I'm not ready to talk about it."

"Okay, continue." Percy nodded. Scarlett was going to run the show between them for the time being and Percy had to let her. Eventually he'd teach her how to hand over the reins and listen to advice. But for now, she needed someone to hear what she had to say and perhaps tell her that she wasn't crazy. Crazy wasn't a word Percy liked to use very often. Troubled was a better way to put it. He didn't think anyone was beyond help and he thought that sick was often mistaken for crazy. Percy was a doctor and he would help heal the sick even if they didn't know why they were ailing.

"This trauma he went through was my fault. The reason he's not sleeping has to do with me and he won't even admit it. At least he won't to me because he doesn't want to worry me." Scarlett scoffed. Tony thought he was excellent at secret keeping but it turned out he wasn't really. He just _thought_ he was good at it. Either that or Scarlett had the ability to see right through him. "I've been awake with him as often as I can but I'm exhausted." Scarlett bit her lip nervously but stopped herself. It was a habit she'd been trying to break.

"What about you?" Percy began pointing at her from across the room. "Do you suffer from the same post traumatic stress?" Scarlett stared at him for a long time and then turned her gaze to the window that was only two stories above the busy streets of the city. Her stomach churned and she nodded her head to confirm that he was right. It was the first time she'd admitted to anyone that she'd really been suffering from anything. Even when she'd been struggling with it for months she kept telling herself it would pass or that she was still in shock.

But two months had passed without incident, outside of what Hawkeye and Black Widow had dragged her into and she still couldn't get past the road block of what had happened to her over a year ago in Afghanistan. Her birthday had recently passed and it had occurred to her for the first time that she had spent her birthday inside that hell. She hadn't mentioned it to Tony because she wasn't yet ready to draw attention to it since she was sure he would want to celebrate.

"I've been having nightmares for much longer than Tony has." Scarlett took a deep breath when she realized she'd been holding it. "I don't wake up screaming or sick anymore, but when I close my eyes I see things and… these things are nightmares. Only they're not, they're real because I lived them. If that makes any sense." Scarlett furrowed her brow and rubbed her temple. All of this trying to be honest while still being vague nonsense was giving her a headache.

"These nightmares, they don't just happen when you sleep do they?" Percy suddenly grew worried. Most of his patients, when they said they weren't sleeping, they were exaggerating. But it was possible Scarlett was being honest.

"Sometimes I space out." Scarlett shook her head from side to side and looked past him, trying to think of how frequently this had happened. "I'm in my head pretty often and it gets hard to get out of there sometimes even when I'm awake." It used to be a blessing that Scarlett lived in her head. While she was on a mission or in a dangerous situation she could easily find her way out of it because she could think of an escape on the fly. Her brain had already been trying to figure out the next move. But now instead of planning her next move, she was reliving the hell locked in her memory to try and understand _how_ it happened, _why_ it happened, or how she could've changed things.

"How often does this happen? The spacing out? And for how long would you say?"

"It varies." Scarlett considered the answer. She hadn't given it too much thought, she figured it came with the territory of dealing with the horrors she'd witnessed. "Sometimes it'll be minutes, sometimes longer. There are days where I'm fine the entire day and days where I can't seem to find my roots in reality." Percy didn't respond but instead let her continue on. "In my head I know that none of its real but then I have to remind myself that it _was_ real at one point. And then I get confused. Is it real? Is this real? What is me sleeping and what is me awake? What was the real disaster I'd been through and what is my imagination taking things a step beyond what they really were?"

"You're having a problem differentiating between reality and fiction?" Percy looked surprised.

"No, no…" Scarlett shook her head adamantly. "This, this right here is real. Me getting a scone this morning, that was real. But did I really get shot two months ago? Or am I remembering it wrong?" Percy chose not to comment on the revelation that Scarlett had been wounded. He'd guessed that there was some malevolence and violence to her tale and decided not to acknowledge it until she was ready to. Her telling him anything was a step in the right direction. He was curious, of course, but that couldn't be helped. It was more important that he helped Scarlett figure out how to trust him and then how to cope before he satisfied his curiosity. "I guess that is how you would phrase it yes. I am having a hard time differentiating between my past and reality. I'm more concerned that it's going to go further than that." Scarlett stopped talking at last and looked to the doctor. Did he think she was out of her mind? Or did he understand that she was simply struggling with finding a coping mechanism? The reality was that Scarlett would rather save Tony than save herself and that was a pretty big problem. She knew it was and yet she had no idea how to fix it.

"You need to start sleeping." Percy at last spoke after giving her some thought. Scarlett sighed with relief and nodded her head.

"Well, that is easier said than done." Scarlett rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile. This thing with her shrink was going to work out after all. She was beginning to lose hope that she'd ever get to talking or feel comfortable enough to share the horrid truths of her history.

"I am going to give you a light sedative to help with that." Percy got up from where he sat and walked into the adjoining room, leaving the door open as he spoke. "It's nothing big, nothing terribly addictive unless you down the whole bottle in too short a time. But it will help you fall asleep and stay asleep if you take it the way you should."

"I'm not into drugs, Doc. I've seen medicine change people and often the end result is not worth the side effects." Scarlett held up her hand again in objection as he came back with a small bottle of pills.

"Take them home with you. I don't even need you to take them." He took her hand and placed the bottle in it before closing her fingers around it. Scarlett turned the plastic container over in her palm and scrutinized them. Did she really need medicine just to do something as simple as sleep? It seemed pathetic in a way. But maybe that was part of what was wrong with her thinking. Scarlett knew already that she wasn't going to take the medicine. If she could avoid it, Scarlett wouldn't _ever_ take medicine. After what she'd seen MedCo do to people she didn't trust pills.

"I probably won't take them." Scarlett wasn't going to waste the doctor's time. He might as well keep the medicine and give it to someone who needed it.

"What you're describing, this inability to distinguish your fantasies from the truth? That's sleep deprivation. It starts out mentally and eventually will deteriorate you physically. Don't take them if you must, but keep them with you. Someday you might be desperate enough to give it a try and realize it's not the end of the world." Percy smiled knowingly and Scarlett grimaced. She knew those pills would sit in her car, taunting her all day long for being too weak to get past her fears so she could sleep.

"Fine, I'll bring them with me." It was easier to take them than it was to argue so Scarlett decided she'd deal with the anxiety of hiding pills in her car all day long.

"Sleep is important. You and Tony need to find a way to get some rest. It'll make you physically ill and impair cognition if it goes on too long." Percy spoke knowingly.

"I know the importance of sleep, Doc, but it's just not that simple. I won't let Tony suffer by himself." Scarlett stood up and smoothed out her shirt. Percy stood up as well. Scarlett rarely stayed for the entire hour of her session and it was no less true this day. He garnered that she was a busy woman given how often she left in a hurry. He wouldn't pressure her to stay. Eventually she'd want to utilize all the time she paid for, it would simply take time for that to happen.

"When was the last time Tony slept?" Percy asked as she opened her mouth to say her goodbyes.

"Two days ago." Scarlett answered, surprised to be interrupted.

"And you?"

"I don't know. I slept for an hour or two that same night." Scarlett shrugged her shoulders. She'd gotten a few hours sleep here and there but nothing substantial enough to shake off the exhaustion in her bones.

"Maybe you should look into meditation. On your next visit we'll discuss it." Percy smiled politely. Scarlett looked at him skeptically but then decided it was a harmless enough idea. If it would help her relax then she'd try it before she tried pills. "You're heading out now, right? Even though we have a half an hour left to our session."

"I seem to double book you, no offense. I have somewhere else I need to be." Scarlett motioned toward the door.

"I think we've made great progress today, Scarlett." Percy offered her his hand to shake.

"Don't do that." Scarlett shook his hand regardless of her words.

"Do what?"

"The progress thing. Say goodbye. I don't need a gold star sticker telling me I did a good job. In fact, I'd prefer not to hear it." Scarlett wasn't sure why it bothered her to hear that progress was being made. Maybe it was because she didn't feel like she was making progress. The only thing she'd accomplished was spilling her guts about her dreams, sounding like a crazy person, and obtaining pills she didn't want to take in the first place. At least she'd talked.

"Fine." Percy smiled and nodded his head. "I'll see you next week."

"I promise not to double book you next time." Scarlett was relieved and started out the door, pulling her phone out to check the time and make sure she hadn't missed any important messages.

"Scarlett?"

"Hmm?" Scarlett stopped in the doorway and turned to face him.

"Even if you don't think it is, this was progress. It might not feel like it but you did good today."

"Didn't I just tell you _not_ to do that?" Scarlett laughed and shook her head. Before Percy could respond to her she walked out the door and down the hall. There were more important things she had to do that morning. She'd purposely double booked the psychiatrist each week in case she needed a reason to bail. More importantly she needed the distraction of having something else to do after a failed meeting. Despite Percy insisting they'd made progress Scarlett continued to feel ridiculous in the elevator, on the walk down the street, and back in her car.

As predicted the pills stared at her from the passenger seat of her car as she drove through the busy streets of Manhattan toward SHIELD headquarters. She'd arranged to meet with Phil Coulson for the first time to speak with him about their annoying interruptions into her life and the possibility of making it all go away by agreeing to help them.

When Scarlett parked in front of the plain looking office building near the water in Manhattan, she couldn't help but stare. It didn't look out of the ordinary, no newer than any of the other buildings in Manhattan. But inside she knew there were secrets and technology that most normal people wouldn't imagine possible. Scarlett would be interested in seeing what they'd come up with but wasn't sure it would be any more impressive than Jarvis. In fact, Scarlett had told Jarvis on numerous occasions that he was the _only_ computer for her. All other computers would pale in comparison. She was sure of that even as she readied herself to walk into the lion's den.

The pills were looking at her again and she was sure she'd think about them throughout her meeting so she shoved them into her glove compartment in hopes of forgetting about them. Afterward she straightened the leather jacket she'd donned for the occasion and got out of her car. Tightening her jacket around her she fought against the wind and walked beneath the shadow of the towering SHIELD building. If she didn't _know_ SHIELD had their Manhattan mainstay there then she never would've guessed it.

But that was how SHIELD operated. They were out in the open without drawing any attention to themselves. She had heard they had mobile bases as well, but had made Coulson agree that any meetings they had were on the ground in an environment she could control. Coulson had dangled the idea of having the meeting on some kind of jet in front of her but Scarlett wasn't fond of the idea even if she had been mildly curious.

Scarlett pushed open the glass office doors, walked through a large empty waiting room and past another set of doors. Inside the rooms were bustling with agents at their desks seated in front of high tech computers either speaking to each other or someone on the other end of a phone line. The walls were clean and lined with security features.

It reminded Scarlett of Stark Industries but to the extreme. Each of the agents at their desks were dressed in special SHIELD garb and Scarlett couldn't help but roll her eyes. They couldn't pay her enough to wear one of those things.

"This doesn't scream secret government organization at _all_." Scarlett rested her hand on her hip and looked around the room curiously. From a hallway to the right a man of average height with a slight receding hairline but a boyish face much too young for his age approached. He stepped down the three steps from the hall and walked immediately toward Scarlett.

"Scarlett Damien it is an honor to meet you." He extended his hand to shake immediately and stopped only a few steps in front of her. She looked down at his hand and shook her head no. It wasn't because she didn't want to be polite, but SHIELD was notoriously sneaky. They wanted her prints on file and they wanted her DNA. She was wearing leather gloves for the time being but she wasn't risking the chance that he had technology that could see through that.

"I'll shake your hand when I trust you. Phil Coulson, I presume?" She pointed to the badge on his jacket pocket that clearly stated his identity.

"My reputation precedes me then, does it?"

"Tony has mentioned that you're a strange little man mad with power." Scarlett made no attempts to hide a smirk and Phil laughed.

"That sounds like Stark. Right this way, Miss Damien, I don't want to waste your time."

"Really? Because you and your people have been doing that pretty frequently. I thought that you were _really_ into wasting my time." Scarlett ran her tongue over her bottom lip nervously. The wound had healed but there was still a dark mark where it had once been.

"I see why Stark likes you." Coulson laughed and turned about face, walking back up the steps and through the open hallways of SHIELD. There were several glass windows that offered insight into the goings on inside each room. Laboratories, holographic screens, weapons tests, meetings were going on left and right. It was too much to take in so Scarlett instead focused on her possible exits. Sometimes acting like the mercenary she no longer was comforted her in tense situations. "Right this way." Coulson waited for a door to open after he waved his keycard in front of it. Scarlett walked past him into the comfortable office that overlooked the ocean.

"Well, look at you. You must be something special to deserve that view." Scarlett shoved her hands in her coat pockets as Coulson walked into the room and sat on the edge of his desk.

"You called this meeting Miss Damien. Obviously you have a problem with the way me and my men operate that you wish to address." Coulson had this permanent look of smug supremacy on his face. It wasn't offensive in the least but added to his personality and charm. Scarlett didn't understand why Tony wasn't very fond of him.

"Oh, I do." Scarlett laughed and continued before he attempted to explain himself. "But I understand why you're doing it. If I had real complaints I would be speaking with Nick Fury, not _you._"

"I figured you would be." Coulson nodded, folding his hands politely as he observed what he hoped would be his new charge. It had taken all of his restraint not to personally attempt to get her on his team. He had only avoided doing so because Nick Fury had strictly forbidden his interference in the matter. Scarlett didn't trust SHIELD and they had to tread lightly. When one of his agents, Michelangela Pierce, had become personally invested in Scarlett's case a few months prior he'd dug up all the information he could find on her and that had led him to Natasha Romanoff's personal relationship with her. This had very much worried and intrigued him.

"I want the craziness to stop. I'm tired of things being beyond my control. For an organization that seems to pride itself on control you sure cause a lot of chaos."

"I'm afraid that we are rather intent on having you on our side, Miss Damien. I'm not the only one. Several of my employees are hell bent on making you a SHIELD agent." Coulson meant that in the most flattering way possible.

"I know. But if I do this then it's going to be on my terms. So tell me, Agent Coulson, because I'm sure you've already got it all mapped out, what is it you want me to do for you and SHIELD?" Scarlett leaned against the glass of the window and faced Coulson, waiting for him to list his demands. He watched her thoughtfully and then bowed his head graciously.

"Why don't you tell _me_ what _you_ had in mind?" Coulson walked around his desk and sat behind it. "You misunderstand our intentions, Miss Damien. We want to help you not hinder you. We think that with our help you can do great good in this world. We are willing to work with you to make it happen."

"I am perfectly capable of doing good in this world without SHIELD help." Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"Really? Were you doing good on your own in South Africa? How about those few nights in Sao Paulo a couple years back? Or maybe you're referring to that rough weekend in Japan?" Phil pressed a few buttons on his desk and brought up several articles from newspapers with examples from the various places he'd brought up. What was specifically in those articles, neither one of them was willing to bring up.

"You have no proof that I didn't." Scarlett hadn't had anyone put her past work in front of her face before so blatantly. "You did your research, I'm touched." She turned to face the window again, looking out at the ocean. The waves were rough that day thanks to the wind. The ferries in the distance heading toward Pier Eleven were bouncing around haphazardly.

"We have been _very_ interested in you for a long time, Miss Damien. This was an opportunity we never thought we'd be afforded."

"You were preparing to find a way to arrest me." Scarlett shrugged knowingly and folded her arms across her chest. "You know that as well as I do. I'm not a fool. I know what happens to people like me when we cross people like you."

"We had to explore the option that someday you were going to get in over your head. We prepared for every foreseeable outcome. Yes, that included your arrest but it also included your vindication as well as your death." Coulson stated simply, wiping away the holographic articles from view.

"If I agree to do this then it's only because I'm letting it happen." Scarlett said after a moment spent in silence. Tony was going to be so mad at her for doing exactly what he didn't want her to, but she had let him know that she planned to join SHIELD. He was likely hoping she'd forget and lose her nerve. But her nerve was something Scarlett very rarely lost.

"I can't agree to your terms if I don't know them."

"Patience, Coulson."

"I have plenty of that." He nodded. It was true, due to the nature of Phil Coulson's job, which was recruiting and guiding people of special abilities, he had a particular gift of patience. If he could deal with stubborn Tony Stark who wanted help less than he wanted a root canal, then he could deal with Scarlett working up to what was on her mind.

"I'd have to be a field agent." Scarlett began, tossing the idea around in her mind as she had done on many occasions. "Not to say that I won't work in a lab if you ask me to, but I'm not good at being cooped up. If you know as much as I think you do then you realize why. I get destructive when I'm kept inside for too long."

"We know that all too well. Before you went off the grid you had a job in Senegal. That didn't end well for you." Coulson's knowledge of her history was expensive and Scarlett was both impressed and slightly annoyed. She was beginning to see why he rubbed Tony the wrong way. People who knew things they shouldn't made her uncomfortable.

"It didn't end well for the other guys either." Scarlett muttered under her breath. That had been where she met Scott, the same job. But she'd grown bored and had started seeking another more adventurous outlet. It was how she learned to fight, how she had learned she was good at it, and how she'd become a mercenary in the first place. "That being said, I want this to be like it was when I was working alone. If you have a job you contact me and I'll consider whether or not I'll pursue the lead. If I choose not to there are _no_ penalties. You find someone else to do it and leave me be."

"Is that going to happen often? We need to know you're reliable."

"Unless it's something I find morally reprehensible or I have a previous engagement I probably won't say no." Scarlett smirked resolutely. "I need the excitement in my life. Clint told me that I missed the thrill of the fight the last time he dragged me in on his mission. He was right."

"You did very well that night, by the way. Thanks to you we've got samples of the drugs they're selling on the streets. We can find where they're manufactured…"

"I don't care." Scarlett turned away and interrupted Coulson who looked impressed. "I do my job and I move on. I try not to get emotionally invested so don't send me on anything that you expect is going to involve me relating to some victim. That's not my thing."

"I can agree to that." Coulson got up from his seat and walked cautiously next to where she stood staring out at the window. Even a stranger could tell that Scarlett was troubled in some way or another, but he knew just as well that asking what the matter was would yield no results.

"When I write down my job title there will not be the word SHIELD anywhere in it. I will be considered a consultant and that's it. No one needs to call me an operative or an agent. That's ridiculous. I'm Scarlett Damien and I'm doing you a damn favor by working for you, got it?" It may have sounded pompous but Scarlett was already in over her head with the rest of her life. Her deal with SHIELD had to be calculated and in her control.

"I take it that means no special codenames or uniform." Coulson laughed under his breath. "Agent Barton has a list a mile long of suggestions for your codename."

"Oh god, he's doing that to you too?" Scarlett turned to look at Coulson for just a moment before turning back to the window. "You got it right though. No codename and no costume. I dress how I want, I use the tools I want to use, and I go by Scarlett or Damien."

"No special tools? We have some excellent technology we can offer you."

"That's fine. I meant that if I have anything I want to use then I will use it. I have a few weapons of my own that I've been developing in my spare time." Scarlett had a Tesla inspired glove that she'd developed several months ago. She had used it to save her life on multiple occasions. It had been destroyed in Moscow but she'd since rebuilt it and enhanced it to her benefit. On top of that she'd devised a second weapon, one that would provide proper defense and would offer her close combat assistance.

"We can agree to that."

"One more thing." Scarlett held up her index finger. "You will not, in any way, use my history against me. In fact, if I make this deal it's completely stricken from the record. No more bringing up articles about what I did in Argentina or China. I will not have SHIELD using my past against me to get what they want. If you don't do this I will not work for you. Nick Fury threatened me once with inevitable imprisonment and if that happens, I swear there will be hell to pay. You've already made it clear you don't want me as an enemy, so let's keep it that way."

"He didn't threaten you. He made you acutely aware of how close to it you already were."

"Oh, I'm much further than you think I am." Scarlett scoffed. "This is for Tony. I will not have him sit through a scandal about my history in the paper. I will not have you ruin our relationship because you want me to do something for you and are trying to twist my arm. My life? Starts here. Everything up to this moment is _gone_. You got it?" Scarlett turned to face Coulson, staring him down. "I want it in writing."

"Okay." Coulson nodded but sighed heavily. They had expected this from her so they had been more than prepared to get rid of her files. "You're making us throw away every bargaining chip we have against you but if you're agreeing to work with us then I see no need for them."

"You do realize if you don't do it then I will _know._" Scarlett looked at him seriously. Coulson shook his head affirmatively.

"We want this deal to work out more than you are aware. This was what we would've offered you along with immunity from any past charges."

"I'll take that too then." Scarlett scoffed, though she wasn't sure she'd need it. Her past life had been one of ultimate secrecy. The only way that anyone would get enough dirt on her to arrest her would be to have her to incriminate herself and she didn't see that happening anytime soon.

"Fair enough." Coulson looked back out the window to the crashing waves in the wind. "I have one more thing I'd like you to agree to if that's alright."

"Go for it."

"You mentioned that you would be listed as a consultant."

"I did."

"In that case we would like you to do some occasional consulting on cases. Every so often we might need your insight and nothing more on a particular topic." Coulson offered out his hand to shake again, waiting for her to take it.

"You have a deal." No longer afraid of having him get her information on file, Scarlett shook his hand and solidified their verbal contract. "Draw up the paperwork and I'll sign off after I give it to my lawyer and look it over to make sure every detail I've mentioned is listed."

"You are nothing but thorough Miss Damien. I'll have our legal department draw up the documents and fax them to your attorney. In the meantime would you like to meet a few of the agents you'll be working with? Including your handler?" Coulson walked away from the window and was surprised when Scarlett didn't follow him. She nodded and slowly walked away from the view of the ocean that had been strangely calming. For some reason the wind and the waves struck her as odd. Why? She had no idea. Scarlett followed Coulson while he meandered further into the building where things became even more fantastic. It was clear that SHIELD was no laughing matter and took what they did very seriously. "Get familiar with this area. This is where people like you come to get their missions and do their work. You'll have a private space of your own here to work, perform interrogations, experiment, whatever you like. If there's anything you need all you have to do is ask."

"Oh, I get my own office? Well lucky me." Scarlett muttered, taking in as much of the building as she could. Luckily she was excellent with directions and wouldn't need to be told where to go twice. It was a skill she'd developed after years of breaking into places and getting lost. She was able to remember little landmarks so she would never get confused, or at least not easily.

At the far end of the hall there was a long desk surrounded by computer screens. Leaning across it from behind the desk side was a woman with fringe bangs and straight black hair except for one stark white streak on her right side. It seemed somehow unnatural, as though it hadn't been done on purpose. Her right eye was brown and one was blue, Scarlett could see it even as she looked at the girl on the other side of the desk. They were piercing. The second woman who had her arms folded on top of the desk from the other side was one Scarlett had recognized.

Michelangela, or Mickey, Pierce was practically sitting on top of the desk to look at what was being shown to her by the girl with two different colored eyes. Scarlett had met Mickey on multiple occasions, the first being when she'd shown up at Tony's mansion with some paperwork. She'd later discovered that the older man who had died while trying to help her and Tony escape an onslaught of MedCo robots and operatives had been her fiancé. After that Mickey had been assigned to pursue Scarlett and bring her in when she'd went after MedCo in Africa.

It hadn't gone very well for Mickey and Scarlett hoped this wouldn't cause any animosity between the two of them. She'd stolen some of Mickey's important paperwork and had likely gotten her into trouble. But much to her surprise Mickey smiled when she saw her. She was tall with brown hair that framed her face and curious but troubled golden eyes. The color of her eyes struck Scarlett as unnatural, but she'd seen weirder things so she brushed it off. Scarlett could vaguely recall that Mickey had been involved in some legal matters that involved her fiancé's ex-wife. This would account for the bags under her eyes.

"Pierce?" Coulson called to Mickey who immediately jumped off of the woman's desk and dropped what was in her hand, which had appeared to be a book of some kind. Scarlett was almost sure she'd caught a glimpse of a man and a woman in a torrid pose and could've guessed it was some kind of harlequin novel.

"Yes, Coulson?" Mickey walked away from the desk, throwing the woman an apologetic glance before stopping in front of her boss. "Miss Damien, it's good to see you again."

"Is she being sarcastic?" Scarlett whispered to Coulson. Mickey looked taken aback. She had genuinely meant it was nice to see Scarlett again. Did that mean Scarlett hadn't wanted to see her? Mickey was immediately over thinking the response.

"Mickey I need you to show Miss Damien around. I have another meeting in a moment so I won't have time. Is that a problem, Scarlett?"

"Not a problem at all." Scarlett nodded her head and smiled apologetically at Mickey who seemed relieved by the gesture. Without another word Coulson walked away from the two. "So, show me around."

"Yes, right, of course." Mickey nodded stupidly, feeling still overwhelmed and taken off guard. She started down a hallway to the right. "This is where the tech guys generally work. We designated an office down here for you when you first came back from your time in Moscow." Mickey turned her attention back to Scarlett over her shoulder to make sure she was following. The last thing she needed was for the woman to sneak off and hack into their files or steal their information on her watch. Scarlett had gotten her into enough trouble in the past, even if it had only been for self preservation.

"Since then? You guys were so sure I was coming to work for you, then?"

"There was an office pool after Fury met with you." Mickey shrugged her shoulders and couldn't help but smile. "Not everyone was so sure but Coulson was hopeful. You've been creating quite the buzz around here in recent months."

"Oh," Scarlett seemed impressed. "Which side of the bet were you on?"

"I thought you were going to tell us to buzz off." Mickey stopped near a white door and waited for the camera to recognize her face. There was a soft beeping from the camera before the door slid open. "I'm glad you didn't."

"Really? I thought for sure you'd be irritated. I didn't make your life any easier back then." Scarlett walked through the door before Mickey could instruct her to. The room was void of anything other than a desk, a lab set up, and a clear board to work on pressed against the wall. It was the basic necessities for any agent. "You know that wasn't personal, right? It was business."

"I know." Mickey smiled. "Is that why you thought I was being sarcastic back there?"

"Yes." Scarlett answered simply. "So this is it, hmm?"

"It doesn't look like much but the walls become a screen if you need them to be. Holographic technology is at the ready and any advancements you want to make will be welcomed. It's not safe for weapons testing yet, you'll have to speak with Fitz-Simmons for that but again, we weren't sure you were really coming to work for us so this is the bare bones. Coulson wanted to give you what we gave Tony, but Fury wouldn't allow it. We simply didn't want to waste the funding if you weren't going to comply."

"My guess is that there was a prison cell just as readily available for me." Scarlett scoffed and turned away from the room. It was something she'd have to spend a day developing but for the time being it was nice just to know where it was.

"I wish I could say you were wrong." Mickey didn't always agree with the way SHIELD operated but there were some things she had accepted she could not change about her life. Knowing that sometimes good people suffered unjust consequences was one of them.

"Who's Fitz-Simmons? Where do I meet him?"

"Them." Mickey corrected. Scarlett looked at her skeptically her imagination already running wild. "Agent Fitz and Agent Simmons. They're very close and always work together so we shortened it to make it easier. Fitz is a tech prodigy and Simmons is a whiz with the life sciences. You are going to _hate_ them." Mickey laughed but followed Scarlett out of the room upon realizing she'd headed back into the hallway.

"Why is that?"

"Well, you'll have to meet them to realize why. But you might not need to for awhile. They're pretty busy and my guess is you will be too. With any luck you won't have to visit them anytime soon." Mickey blocked Scarlett's path down the hallway so she couldn't continue without her.

"I suppose that's a good thing then. So are you my handler then?" Scarlett cleared her throat. Mickey looked surprised and almost amused by the idea.

"What? No! No…" Mickey laughed and shook her head adamantly. Scarlett stared at her expectantly, waiting for more. She wasn't sure why it was so funny to think that Mickey would be handling her cases.

"Then who is? Coulson said you'd introduce me to my handler. Or that he would and then he disappeared to do god knows what." Scarlett gestured down the hallway past Mickey. "He only introduced me to you and we've already met so… it was a natural assumption." Smirking, Scarlett hoped to encourage Mickey out of her obvious nerves. She'd seen the woman at her worst and hoped she could keep pushing Mickey. For some reason, Scarlett had a soft spot for her. Maybe it was because she felt responsible for her fiancé's death or maybe it was because she had manipulated her on several occasions for her personal gain. Scarlett felt she owed it as a favor to Mickey to help her out when she could.

"Oh right, right. I'm sorry." Mickey winced and turned around and headed back down the hallway where they'd come from originally.

"Don't be. You didn't do anything wrong." Scarlett shrugged, taking off her leather jacket and draping it over her arm. The building was much warmer than the fall October weather outside.

"Right, sorry." Mickey started then sighed. "I mean… never mind." She shook her head in dismay and then started back toward the desk where Scarlett had first found her. "Hey, Jinx!"

"Mickey!" The girl with two different colored eyes looked alert and friendly upon seeing her friend returning to her. And the two were _very_ obviously friends. Now that Scarlett was closer to the desk she could see the book that had been left behind by Mickey and it was indeed a harlequin romance novel. A woman in a tattered past century gown was caught in a fishnet and nearby a gruff but handsome looking man with his shirt hanging open in the wind was pulling on the net to bring her closer. The text along the top read _'The Fishmonger's Captive: Romance on an Epic Scale'_. Scarlett averted her eyes and did her best not to show her amusement. That had to be the worst title of a smut novel she'd ever seen. "What did Coulson want?"

"Work stuff." Mickey nodded behind her to where Scarlett stood. The woman known as Jinx picked up the book again and paid Scarlett no mind.

"Look I know it seems kinda corny but it gets _really_ romantic around page fifty. It lives up to the bad scale pun. I think it's our next book! You picked the last one, _trust_ me on this." Mickey winced and shook her head no, hoping she could stop her before revealing too much about their obvious affinity for harlequin novels. "What's with your face?" Jinx followed her gaze and then stopped to stare at Scarlett. She tilted her head to the side curiously and glared at Scarlett for much longer than necessary. Scarlett felt suddenly very uncomfortable and under scrutiny. None of the girls spoke for a long time. Mickey was still making an uncomfortable face as if waiting for the ball to drop. Scarlett wasn't sure why Jinx had suddenly _turned off_. Jinx simply stared at her for a long time.

Jinx suddenly reached for a magazine that was off to the side and slid it beneath her file folder before standing up. Scarlett could've sworn she saw pictures of her and Tony on the cover of it. It didn't surprise her. They were often in the gossip rags because of the nature of Tony's celebrity and their torrid history even in just the past few months. Tony had once revealed to the papers that they were having a steamy affair and it had since spiraled out of control. Papers had reported left and right about Tony Stark and his mystery girlfriend. Scarlett had long since stopped being bothered by it. It was, however, funny that Jinx seemed to have a copy of it to hide. Romance novels, gossip magazines; Scarlett's coworkers were turning out to be rather quirky.

But that was soon forgotten as Jinx walked around the side of her desk and grabbed Scarlett's hands with a very serious look plastered on her features. Her dual colored eyes made it creepier than it should've been.

"Mickey, I think I broke her." Scarlett whispered awkwardly when Jinx continued to stare almost sympathetically. Mickey tried not to laugh, obviously used to this sort of behavior from her friend.

"She's not broken. Give it a minute."

"There is terrible violence in your future." Jinx whispered apologetically, her eyes instantly showing sympathy for her prediction.

"Is she serious?" Scarlett curled her lip in confusion. She looked back to Jinx and shook her head. "I assure you, whatever you see was in my past. I probably still reek of violence." An attempt to pull her hands away from Jinx was only met with her grabbing them a bit tighter.

"Oh no." Jinx shook her head negatively. "I'm afraid not. You see, I can read people. It's a gift." From seemingly nowhere, Jinx revealed a deck of cards that reminded Scarlett of the tarot but they looked homemade and had far different symbols upon them.

"Where the hell were you keeping those?" Scarlett made no attempts to hide her confusion.

"Scarlett Damien, this is your handler, Julianna Bennett. She's better known as Jinx and perhaps you can see why. I assure, she means well." Mickey instructed her and Scarlett again looked confused and a little disheartened. She hadn't expected SHIELD to employ people who were in the practice of things such as reading palms and telling fortunes.

"You can't be serious." Before Scarlett could further object, Jinx withdrew a small coin from her pocket and placed it in Scarlett's hand.

"Here, a good luck charm. I have more behind my desk… Give me a second." Jinx let go of Scarlett and started behind her desk in search of the charms. "If I give you enough perhaps we can ward off the bad luck."

"Wait, like a rabbit's foot?" Scarlett was more baffled than ever. Was this some kind of joke? Was Coulson not taking her signing up to work with them seriously? She guessed that Jinx must have had some kind of special "gift" in order to be allowed to continue working with SHIELD. Still, Scarlett struggled to wrap her mind around the idea of it.

"What? No!" Jinx wrinkled up her nose and shook her head adamantly. "Those are _not_ lucky, they're inhumane."

"Jinx, maybe you should calm down…" Mickey could see Scarlett's irritation and hoped to defuse the situation before it got further out of control. Scarlett took a deep breath and resigned to accept her new coworkers for what they were. If Jinx was superstitious it didn't bother her, but Scarlett _wasn't_ so there would have to be a line drawn. Placing the coin back down on the desk, Scarlett slid it toward Jinx.

"Look, Julianna… I assure you that my past life was riddled with violence. Twenty years of violence and it was pretty nasty. If you are picking up anything then it has to be that. Your good luck charms? They're wasted on me. I don't believe in luck. If I did, I'd be long dead." Scarlett grinned confidently and Mickey sighed with relief. For a brief moment she was sure that Scarlett was going to lose her temper. She was hoping that the situation would resolve itself smoothly. With Scarlett seemed to come chaos, at least in Mickey's experience. She wondered if there was some truth to Jinx's predictions.

"No, it's not that." Jinx shook her head and started laying cards out in front of her. "This violence is in your future. You reek of disaster, you stink of blood."

"Wow," Scarlett let her mouth hang open in disbelief. "I guess this perfume is a no from now on."

"The mark of death is upon you." Jinx placed her fingers on top of the card closest to her and looked upset. Mickey placed her hand over Jinx's and pushed the card away, hoping to get the woman to calm down.

"It's nice to meet you too, Julianna." Scarlett decided arguing against what Jinx saw would be fruitless. She wouldn't take it seriously or give it a second thought once they parted ways.

"You can call me Jinx." Even with a smile, she looked haunting with her multicolored eyes. And behind those eyes, Scarlett could see nothing but worry and suspicion of what was to come.

"Well, you've _certainly_ earned that name." Scarlett was beginning to regret the decision she'd made to work with SHIELD. She thought back to the bottle of sleeping pills sitting in her car, judging her. Now Jinx was judging her, telling her she was going to die. Maybe she shouldn't have gotten out of bed that morning. Between the doctors, the stress of worrying about Tony, and now apparently stinking of blood, Scarlett didn't think her day could get much worse. But as she reflected on what had happened, she realized it wasn't so bad. She'd definitely had worse days than that.

In fact, it was just another ordinary Monday in the life of Scarlett Damien.


	6. Devil in Her Heart

[[A/N: Hey everyone! Just wanted to say thanks again for reading! I hope my portrayals of Coulson have been alright so far, I'm nervous to write so many new characters. Also, bear with Jinx, I promise she is well worth her crazy. (: Someone asked awhile ago whether or not I would write a fic that was basically Iron Man 3 with Scarlett instead of Pepper. Would anyone be interested in that? I would have to change a lot of things because the plot of that movie made my brain explode... But it could also be pretty fun. (: Let me know if anyone's interested! I'm going to try to make more of an effort to communicate with readers on here. I didn't before because I felt weird putting these little notes in here. I'm also participating in NaNoWriMo this year with another Iron Clad story called Echoes! 20k words so far! Hope everyone is well.]]

"Pepper, the meeting went well. Would you stop nagging me already?" Tony spoke into his earpiece as he tightened his long jacket around him to ward off the harsh chilly winds blowing through Manhattan. Sometimes the city was a damn wind tunnel and it was one of those days. The SHIELD building loomed ahead of him, casting a shadow overhead that seemed more than ominous. Tony swore it blocked out the little bit of sun that peeked through the clouds.

"They're _reconsidering_ their investment Tony! What part of that sounds like it went _well?_ Were you not in the same meeting that I was? That seemed more like a warning than anything else." Pepper was exasperated on the other line. Tony had only moments ago left the car that Pepper remained in and he'd left her mid-sentence. Refusing to be ignored she had called him immediately after and had continued to do so until he'd finally picked up and spoke with her. Happy had dropped him off in front of the SHIELD building by request. Tony had gotten a call during his meeting from an agent there, Maria Hill, who was often charged with handling his consultant work ever since their move to Manhattan.

"It's all part of the process, Pepper. Calm down and take this thing one step at a time. They _want_ to work with me! They've seen what this project will do and want to be the first involved. It's good publicity for the state of New York. They're going to reevaluate their expenses and get back to us with a new number, probably more significant than the last. What part of that scares you?"

"How about _everything you just said_?" Pepper whined with frustration when Tony continued to blow off what seemed to her like a very important business dilemma. "How can you be so optimistic that funding will hold? What if they're reevaluating because they're not confident you can pull this energy thing off? What if they are going to _pull_ funding entirely?"

"I've been doing this Stark Industries thing for longer than I can remember, that's why. If it doesn't work out then we find other investors and march on. You're panicking for nothing. This is just business, Pepper. It's not like it's going to make or break us. I'm Tony Stark, remember?" Tony stepped through the glass double doors and waved his hand at the security officers who were about to ask him for clearance. "I'm sorta busy right now. I have this SHIELD headache to deal with already don't give me a second one."

"You can't _have_ two headaches, Tony."

"Do you see that? You're nagging so hard you're breaking the rules of biology, Pepper! I've got to go." Before she could respond, Tony ended the call and slipped the earpiece away from his ear and pocketed it. He'd gotten used to keeping it with him since he'd been booked solid with meeting after meeting for the past few months. The security officers looked to Tony skeptically before waving him past. He could've sworn he saw them smile while listening in on his conversation. "Finally you let me past without checking that stupid card. Seriously guys, read a paper. You know who I am already, don't pretend you don't."

"Ah, Mr. Stark." Phil Coulson walked into the front office and up to Tony Stark. He didn't extend his hand to shake as he had done for Scarlett but instead nodded to acknowledge his arrival.

"Coulson." Tony shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat before looking around him at the SHIELD agents who were busy on their computers. The last time he'd come in he'd caught three of them playing Facebook games and another uploading a picture of him to Twitter. He'd promptly allowed the employee to get a better picture of him then scolded them to get back to work. Now each of the SHIELD employees made a point to _actually_ be doing their work when they knew Tony was going to show up. "Everyone's paying attention today, nice to see that. I was starting to wonder how you got anything done here with such an inefficient system."

"Everyone does their job here, Stark. We're social animals by nature. As long as they're not discussing SHIELD secrets on their Facebook then we aren't offended." Coulson nodded toward the hallway at the opposite end of the room where he'd planned to debrief. "Shall we?"

"That's why I'm here." Tony yawned, closing one eye as he did. Then he stripped off his jacket and draped it over his arm. It was much warmer inside the SHIELD building than it was outside.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you in." Phil spoke without turning to face Tony, presuming he was following closely behind even though Tony actually lagged behind and took in his surroundings as he always did. He was led into a large meeting room where the walls were filled with white boards and screens filled with information on open cases and unfinished formulas. Out of the corner of his eye Tony caught a glimpse of Natasha Romanoff, the short but fiery red-headed mercenary who had once worked undercover for SHIELD in his company to spy on him. Tony and Natasha had a difficult friendship, if that was the best word to use to describe it. Natasha often challenged him more than he was comfortable with and so in turn Tony gave her an equally difficult time. She'd deceived him a number of times, so he made a point never to trust her. Despite her budding friendship with his girlfriend, Tony wasn't going to let down his guard.

"I always wonder why you call me in. I wouldn't be here if I didn't wonder." Tony had only come into SHIELD because he had ulterior motives. He didn't _actually_ care about what SHIELD wanted him to work on but he very rarely did. Instead he wanted to discuss the way they pursued Scarlett and see what he could do to avoid her eventual employment. He desperately wanted Scarlett to keep her distance from them if he could manage it. If he could convince Coulson to get his men to back off then maybe she would forget about SHIELD altogether.

"Usually I have to send someone to chase you down just to get you to look at paperwork." Coulson led Tony into a far corner of the large room where there were several boards set up covered in maps and coordinates as well as damage reports. Several comfortable rolling chairs were set in front of the boards for those who were examining them. But for now they were empty. The maps caught Tony's eye and for a split second he took in as much information as he could before turning his attention back to Agent Coulson.

"You got lucky today, I guess." Tony shrugged his shoulders but he wasn't sure how long he could play nice before he got to what he_ really_ wanted to talk about. Tony didn't have a whole lot of patience when it came to dealing with SHIELD. When Tony was exhausted he had even less patience and currently he was beyond exhausted. If Coulson talked too much he was likely going to fall asleep waiting.

"Well, I'll take it for what it is." Coulson chuckled but then turned his attention to the boards set up in front of him. "Over the past week and a half odd phenomena have been developing across the tri-state area. It seems to be getting worse and more frequent the more time passes"

"Did the Mets win the World Series? David Wright finally pulled through, huh?"

"It's a temporal anomaly, not a baseball anomaly. Besides, the Mets have been out of the running for awhile now. And Wright is a good player so I don't know what you're complaining about."

"I had no idea you were a baseball fan, Coulson." Tony looked impressed. It was very rare that his references were actually acknowledged by the SHIELD agent. "You are a constant surprise."

"I know, I put the secret in secret agent." Without missing a beat Coulson continued and pointed to the map in the upper right hand corner of the board. Taking a step closer Tony squinted so he could read the tiny font face. His eyes were so tired he could barely make out the lettering.

"This is in Fishkill, that's _hardly_ local."

"I said tri-state. That means three states, Stark. Throughout the three states, not just around the city. Simply because Fishkill is a little upstate doesn't mean it's no longer part of the area." Coulson clarified, pointing to a larger map that clearly displayed the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

"Yeah, I just thought it was a little closer to home. But thanks for the geography lesson." Tony blinked his eyes closed then opened them again, hoping they would focus a bit better. This lack of sleep thing was really starting to catch up with him.

"It's getting increasingly closer to our area but the events are rather unpredictable. We've had our best teams on it trying to predict the location and severity of the next occurrence but we're wrong each time. We were hoping you could take a look and help figure out a way to predict where this next anomaly might occur. If we can get there before it actually happens we might be able to get to the root of the problem."

"What's the frequency? At which this happens obviously, not a radio frequency." Tony walked to the next board. It seemed as though whatever was happening had no rhyme or reason to it. Tony searched for a pattern in the numbers but found none. There were places in southern New Jersey, some scattered throughout New York, but most of the events had occurred in Pennsylvania and at varying times.

"It started small, with just a fluctuation of gamma radiation and no damage or visual event but it's since compounded and expanded. The gamma spikes have occurred more frequently." Coulson watched Tony go over the maps and SHIELD reports. As he went to open his mouth to further explain Tony turned suddenly on his heels.

"This is all very interesting and everything but I was wondering if I could discuss a private matter with you before we get too involved here." Tony knew that whatever these anomalies were that Coulson wanted to discuss they would occupy most of the rest of his afternoon. It was intriguing to say the least. Most of what Coulson had asked him to look at thus far had been fairly boring and easily sorted out. These maps and configurations were like nothing Tony had seen before. He was excited to get his hands dirty. But before he could do that, he needed to get the little matter of his girlfriend out of the way.

"A private matter? Sure." Coulson looked more than confused but Tony didn't care. Glancing over his shoulder, Tony saw that Natasha sat nearby looking over a file folder. So he grabbed Coulson's arm and pulled him closer to the boards and further away from the redhead. The last thing he wanted was Natasha spying on his conversation about Scarlett. He was sure that she would _not_ approve of what he was about to say. "…is something wrong?" Coulson seemed suddenly concerned. Tony didn't seem like his usual self.

"What? No, no…" Tony shook his head.

"You look troubled."

"Troubled? _Me?_ No, just tired. I had a long night if you know what I mean." Tony smirked and Coulson shook his head in dismay, regretting asking. Instead of telling the truth about how he'd been unable to sleep and how worried he'd become about Scarlett, he'd been telling everyone that their sexual prowess had been keeping them up for days at a time. There were those who enjoyed his stories, but he got the distinct feeling that Coulson saw through him and understood that it was something he didn't wish to discuss. Tony didn't consider anyone at SHIELD his friend but he had grown fond of Phil Coulson even if he wasn't willing to admit it. There was just something _likable_ about him.

"So what is it then?" Coulson pressed him onward, hoping to avoid a lengthy conversation about Tony's nightly exploits. Checking over his shoulder again to make sure that Natasha hadn't moved closer, Tony was relieved when she remained still seated on a desk reading over some file folder.

"It's about Scarlett."

"What about her?" Coulson folded his arms over his chest as he listened.

"I know you want her to work for you." Tony became serious, which was a rare sight for Phil Coulson. "I'm asking you as a friend not to hire her on as an agent or a consultant." He lowered his voice as he spoke, not wanting anyone to overhear. Coulson was surprised to hear Tony's objections, having not expected him to be opposed to her working for them considering how they'd met. It was possible that Tony knew more about Scarlett's history than anyone else on the planet; surely he couldn't find her incapable.

"I'm afraid that it's too late for that. I've already discussed it with her." Phil bowed his head apologetically but at the same time there was something in his eyes that seemed to scold Tony for his actions. "Even if the deal wasn't already sealed I would say no. She's too valuable an asset."

"She's not an _asset_ she's a _person._" Tony gritted his teeth. He'd grown tired of watching SHIELD and MedCo treat human beings like they were disposable. But before he could continue on what was promising to be a decent rant Tony jumped a mile when someone else joined their conversation and interrupted him.

"And who are you to come in here behind her back to try to sway our hand?" Natasha had appeared out of nowhere, no longer holding the file she'd been reading but instead folding her arms over her chest as Coulson had and glaring at Tony in disapproval. For someone of her short stature she was still awfully intimidating.

"I'm her _boyfriend_. Did you miss that memo? Did she not tell you that already? Isn't that the kind of stuff you two discuss? Was that not in her file somewhere?" Tony glared at her as though she were something unpleasant. Had she been listening in on their conversation from the start? He'd had the distinct feeling that she was spying on him when he'd first walked in. But then again he got that feeling from her every time that he saw her.

"And dating her gives you the right to control whether or not she works here? Worse than being controlling, you're manipulating the situation. Why not tell her you don't want her to work here? This is very shady."

"Because I _already_ told her that and she didn't listen."

"And if she still wants to do it then you should _respect_ her decision! Scarlett doesn't need some guy telling her how to live her life." Natasha argued. Coulson simply watched the exchange in front of him. Apparently he didn't need to have a discussion with Tony about what had happened with Scarlett since Black Widow had decided to do it for him. Still, Coulson had the distinct feeling that there was more to Tony's request than he was letting on. Something seemed off about the usually cocky billionaire, something more than just lost sleep.

"She only wants to because you and your bird-brained boyfriend won't leave her the hell alone! She says that she might as well get paid if you're going to keep dragging her in on your missions."

"And what is it you expect her to do if she doesn't work here? Stay at home and cook you dinner and do your laundry? Scarlett has far too much potential to be hidden away as nothing more than the candy on your arm, Stark." Natasha hoped she'd made Tony feel at least a little bit guilty but instead he went pale and shook his head adamantly.

"You're putting words in my mouth, Romanoff! I'm protecting her. I don't want her to be cooped up and doing my bidding. I wouldn't be dating her if she was that kind of woman."

"What exactly do you think you're protecting her from?"

"From turning into _you!_"

"And what's so wrong with me that you're afraid of that?" Natasha was taken aback but obviously angered by his response since her eyes flashed dangerously. The last thing Tony wanted was to be wrestled to the ground by someone almost a foot shorter than him.

"In what order would you prefer that I list the many, _many_ reasons?" Tony sneered. "Natasha Romanoff probably isn't even your real name. Do you even _remember_ who you are? Scarlett was already there once. I don't want that for her anymore."

"If you think your girlfriend's real name is Scarlett Damien then you're a fool." Natasha chuckled though she still enraged.

"Enough." Coulson finally intervened as Tony opened his mouth to take another dig at the assassin. "Tony, this is an unreasonable request to make. Scarlett has already met with me and we've worked out the kinks in her contract and she's agreed to work with us. Natasha's right, she's far too valuable not to pursue. Her intellect alone is worth the contract. Add in her skills as a fighter and an engineer and it's impossible for me to let her slip beneath the radar." Tony rubbed his hand over his jaw and turned away from the both.

It was pointless.

There was no convincing them otherwise just as there had been no talking Scarlett out of approaching SHIELD. He had thought she had other things to do that afternoon. He didn't realize she would be coming to SHIELD to discuss their next move. He'd secretly hoped that she'd forget about it for another week so that he could devise a deal with Coulson that would keep her from becoming an agent. Now it was too late and the deed had been done. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach now that he knew. Why was he _so_ crippled by fear of the unknown?

"Fine." Tony turned to face them both again, sure that the defeat radiated off of him more than his cologne. "Can I make a request, at least?"

"You can. I can't guarantee it'll be honored but there's no harm in requesting it." Phil shrugged though Natasha seemed to disapprove of the notion entirely. She obviously was not comfortable with Tony interfering in Scarlett's affairs. Then again, wasn't she doing the same thing by interrupting her life with mission after mission? It was different though, wasn't it? Natasha was trying to convince Scarlett, not working behind the scenes to manipulate her into doing something against her will like Tony was.

"Don't let her work alone." Tony pled and while Coulson immediately recognized that Tony was worried for his girlfriend, Natasha was quickly on the offensive.

"She has worked alone for twenty years and suddenly because she's dating _you_ she can't work by herself anymore?" Natasha scoffed in disbelief. "If you can't accept who she is then maybe you should back off before things blow up in your face. This is who Scarlett _is_."

"No it's who _you_ think she is! She's going through something, something life altering and if you keep pushing her then she's going to slip right back into being the person she was. She hated that person but you wouldn't know that, would you? My guess is she doesn't tell _you_ that, does she?" Tony fought back instantly. He was tired of SHIELD meddling in his affairs and he was tired of Natasha stacking the deck against him. Why did she think she knew what Scarlett needed any better than he did?

"Scarlett is more than capable of handling herself and the missions that Coulson will be assigning her. You want her to have a babysitter. Do you realize how angry that's going to make her?"

"I don't want her to have a babysitter! What is it with you putting words into my mouth constantly? Can you stop being awful, just for a second?" It wasn't the first time Tony had made this request of her and he was sure it wouldn't be the last time. He usually liked Natasha well enough and could joke around with her but when it came to discussing his girlfriend and her friend they never saw eye to eye. Ever since he'd moved to Manhattan Natasha had been a very unwelcome addition to his life.

"I'm not putting words into your mouth. Do you listen to yourself when you talk? Of course you don't." Natasha rolled her eyes and took a step closer to challenge Tony.

"When she works alone she turns cold!" Tony fought, looking over Natasha's head and to Coulson who watched the exchange in amused silence. Natasha stopped arguing and stared at Tony, scrutinizing him. "She forgets what it's like _not_ to be that woman she was. She… I watched it happen when we were in Africa. It took her ages to realize that I was there for her and if she's alone again what happens if she forgets that? What if she thinks she doesn't need anyone again? Everybody needs somebody, even you, Romanoff." Tony didn't bother to look at her but instead spoke to Coulson. "She deserves to have people in her life who need her and care about her. I don't want her to forget that."

"Is that _really_ why you're asking?" Natasha kept up her defenses but internally she softened. Tony wasn't trying to control her friend, he was worried about her. He was looking out for her. There was nothing malicious about what he was asking, even when he'd requested that she not work for SHIELD. At face value it looked like he was just being a misogynistic asshole but now that she could see past the man Tony was in the papers and found the truth.

"I don't want to lose her again." Tony looked finally at Natasha and sighed heavily in hopes she would stop trying to rip his head off as they spoke.

"Fine." Natasha turned away and took a deep breath. Only seconds ago she had been so angry she was ready to give Tony a black eye but now she wondered if Tony's worries were founded. Natasha's past was riddled with demons, maybe more so than Scarlett's was. She understood better than most what it was like to lose herself in those demons. If Tony was trying to simply protect her from herself than it wasn't doing any harm.

"I think that's a perfectly reasonable request. She probably won't like it very much, having a partner that is, but I don't see why it would be a problem." Phil nodded his head once he'd tossed the idea around in his mind. He wondered who he should partner with the new recruit and immediately had several people in mind.

"Thank you." Tony sighed with relief. "You could always partner her with _me_. That's the obvious choice."

"If even a quarter of your stories are true, Tony, then you two would never get anything accomplished." Coulson immediately put a stop to that idea before it became too appealing for Tony. He would push until he got what he wanted most times. But Tony just wasn't built for fieldwork. It wasn't that he wasn't capable but he was too volatile and self obsessed to go into the field and do as he was told. Plus he had no experience and was far too recognizable a public figure to run stealth missions. Scarlett may eventually have a similar problem what with being Tony's girlfriend, but for now she had more experience in stealth and fieldwork than most of the SHIELD agents currently under his watch.

"That's true." Tony nodded his head and considered it, a smile creeping over his face at some memory of a time when he'd tried to get something done with Scarlett. Even before they'd started dating they hadn't been able to properly work together without getting into trouble. Back then it hadn't been physical acts of romance but instead an insatiable tension. "Can't argue with the truth."

"I'll have to think on it. She's going to be hard to pair with."

"I know it may come off as needy but I have another request." Tony pursed his lips, sure that Natasha was going to, yet again, butt in when he finally made it.

"For someone I called into work today you are asking quite a bit. But go ahead."

"Don't pair her with Natasha." Tony glanced back at the redhead.

"Hey!" She immediately objected. "And why not?"

"Do you really need me to spell it out for you? Weren't you here for most of this conversation? Oh yes, and isn't this a conversation you weren't invited into in the first place?"

"Scarlett and I have worked together pretty well, if you ask me. She would be a perfect fit as _my_ partner." Natasha preferred to work alone if she could help it but the fact that Tony was so against her being partnered up with his girlfriend was grinding on her nerves. That was why she had chosen to spy on him when he'd started to talk to Coulson in hush tones. He'd acted particularly suspicious since he'd entered the room, throwing glances at her over his shoulder as though he didn't want her to know what he was up to. She understood why now, but it still bothered her that Tony was manipulating Scarlett's life to such an extent. Scarlett had been manipulated for years, specifically by her ex-boyfriend. Natasha wasn't going to let her friend end up in another relationship founded on lies and deceit, not after what it had put her through.

Natasha wasn't particularly sentimental in that respect but she knew that Scarlett needed someone looking out for her. Maybe it was the same way Tony felt about it which was why he was there trying to change her deal with SHIELD. Was Natasha just as bad for interfering? It was amazing and a little disturbing how they were making decisions about Scarlett's life when she wasn't even there.

"Coulson, please. Back me up here." Tony looked to Coulson in hopes that he would put a stop to the argument before it got any more complex. He was tired of having to defend his motives in his personal relationship with people who weren't in the relationship. Even Pepper couldn't mind her own business when it came to Tony's personal affairs.

"I get it, I get it. Sorry Natasha but I can see eye to eye with Tony here. You won't be partnered with Scarlett unless it's an emergency situation and you're the only backup we have available." Coulson knew that when Scarlett and Natasha worked together it was nothing but trouble. The two women were too hard to keep under wraps when they were working as a team. Even when Scarlett had been in Russia and Natasha had been assigned to shadow her to make sure she didn't get into trouble they'd ended up disobeying very strict orders and putting Clint's undercover operation in jeopardy. It was too much of a risk for Coulson to let Scarlett and Natasha work together on a constant basis. Plus, Tony was right. The two women would likely get into more trouble together than they would apart.

Scarlett didn't need to be any more like Natasha and Natasha didn't need to be any more like Scarlett. They would be bad influences on each other and no one, especially SHIELD, wanted that. Natasha, as predicted, didn't look happy about the decision but seemed to understand that there was no arguing against it. When she got the chance she would talk to Scarlett about it and they would either agree to deal with things the way they were instructed to or find a way to fight against Coulson's ruling. Or they'd straight up break the rules.

"Thank you," Tony sighed with relief. It was nice that at least one person seemed to get why Tony was afraid that Scarlett would turn into Natasha. While Tony didn't know much about Natasha's personal life or her history he knew her well enough to know that he had absolutely no interest in dating someone like her. Natasha was the kind of work obsessed assassin that Scarlett had been before meeting Tony and she was finally breaking out of that. It was something he hoped he could keep her from turning back into.

"I understand why you wouldn't want Romanoff paired with her but why not Barton? They get along well enough and are constantly joking around. They get the job done when they're together. It seems like a natural fit for both of them." Coulson was relieved when Natasha chose to quietly listen rather than continually object to the matter at hand. Tony had been right; she really shouldn't have been involved. Obviously it was a boundary she was comfortable crossing since she had so much history with Scarlett.

"Look, I like Barton. He's a decent guy. But every time he works with Scarlett or they hang out for coffee or something she ends up with either a black eye, a busted lip, or another mark on her rap sheet. She doesn't need any help with legal trouble from him. He's a little reckless or has really bad luck, either way Scarlett doesn't need that. She needs someone who is going to be reliable and have her back."

"Clint would always have her back." Natasha chimed in but she was smiling at last. Tony wasn't wrong, but she hadn't noticed it until he'd pointed it out. "He's a little destructive but he's very loyal."

"I know that. I do. He's been very good to Scarlett but he's also the reason she has a split lip right now." Tony was tired of Natasha objecting to every word out of his mouth. If she did it again he was going to explode. It was bad enough that he'd had to follow up with investors all morning and then hear Pepper nagging him about how they were losing their deal with the state of New York. The last thing he needed was to argue with someone who shouldn't have had any say on his personal affairs. All of that on top of no sleep made Tony a very cranky man.

"Alright, alright. No Natasha, no Clint. We'll find someone else for her to be partnered with." Coulson couldn't help but be amused by his reasoning. He could tell that Tony was on edge and wanted to avoid any negative interaction if he could manage it. So far the day had been going remarkably well up until that point considering he'd managed to get Scarlett to sign a contract and he had been very unconvinced that she would ever come around and join SHIELD.

"And she doesn't start doing work for you out in the field until she has a partner, you got it?" Tony turned instantly to Natasha who had been well on her way to objecting. "I don't want to hear it. If you care so much why don't _you_ date her?" Natasha held up both her hands and closed her mouth, backing off officially from the conversation. She'd meddled enough and from what she could hear Coulson knew what he was doing and wasn't going to let Tony bully him into making decisions, without Scarlett's knowledge, about her career.

"That seems fair enough. I get that you're trying to protect her but she has proven that she is more than capable of handling missions without someone holding her hand. I will agree to this but reluctantly." Coulson looked back to the board that he had barely gotten to address before Tony had taken him off on a tangent involving his personal relationship.

"It's not about her being able to handle herself. I know exactly what she's capable of handling, I just want to know that someone is going to be there looking out for her the way she's going to be looking out for you and this damn company." Tony acknowledged the rest of the room. Scarlett, even though she claimed she didn't want anything to do with SHIELD, was the type of person who immersed herself into her work. She had once said that she didn't get emotionally invested in her job but he knew that was far from the truth. Maybe that had been the woman she was five years ago but that was not the woman she had become in the past months. Scarlett was going to get involved and it was possible she would get involved so deeply that she would get in over her head. Tony wanted someone to be there to help her out if and when that happened. If it couldn't be him, he wanted it to be someone reliable.

"Okay, I get it, I get it. I wouldn't have agreed if I had thought you were simply being overprotective. I don't think she should work alone either." Phil Coulson was well aware of what had happened to Scarlett in the months past with MedCo and her ex-boyfriend who had manipulated her severely and even set her up to be horrifically tortured. While he was confident that Scarlett was more than capable of handling any job he threw at her, he also thought that she deserved to have someone who was there willing to help her. Scarlett needed to realize that the whole world wasn't out to get her and if he could help her do that by assigning her a partner who would be there for her then he was more than happy to oblige her worried boyfriend's requests.

"Thank you." Tony said after an awkward moment of silence. He was surprised the conversation had gone at as well as it had. When he'd walked into the building he'd half expected to spend most of his visit there arguing his point with Coulson. Then again, he also hadn't anticipated Natasha being anywhere near the facility when he'd shown up. Perhaps Coulson had thought he'd been punished enough by the redhead and had decided to throw him a bone by agreeing to his very simple request.

"Why don't we go and fill her in on all this?" Coulson nodded to the board. "I'll let her know that she won't begin fieldwork until after a partner is found and assigned to her and we can give her the information I have on these anomalies. I was going to fill her in before you got here Stark but you were surprisingly prompt."

"Only because I wanted to talk to you about Scarlett before you got to talk to her. Unfortunately, that didn't quite go the way I had wanted it to."

"Oh you poor thing, not getting everything you want." Natasha rolled her eyes but a smile still played on her lips.

"Shut it ginger." Tony responded without a second thought. "Wait, so Scarlett's here already? Right now? I know you said that you had just signed a contract with her but I assumed that meant that you had done it hours ago or something. She said she had some hair appointment thing this afternoon."

"Right, like Scarlett has ever made a hair appointment weeks in advance." Natasha laughed at how naïve Tony could be sometimes. Unfortunately she also knew that meant Scarlett was keeping secrets from him. As much as she disapproved of his worry and meddling in her life she also disapproved of Scarlett hiding things from Tony simply because they might make him uncomfortable.

"Why are you even here right now?" Tony barked in annoyance but he'd been wondering the same thing. It didn't seem like Scarlett to go to those sorts of appointments every week. That was more Pepper's speed. He knew it was hard for them to be honest with each other on a constant basis but he had hoped that they wouldn't start lying to each other so soon after they had agreed to be honest. Though Tony couldn't complain much considering how many secrets he'd kept since their relationship's inception.

"This way." Coulson ignored them both and started through the large meeting room to the door at the other end of it. Natasha and Tony followed closely behind to find Scarlett so they could get to work.


	7. Happiness is a Warm Gun

_[[A/N: So what's everyone's opinion on fisherman/fishmonger relations? lol. I'm thinking of doing a series of character pictures for the holidays! Any thoughts?]]_

"So it's about a fisherman?" Scarlett examined the glossy cover of the harlequin romance novel that Jinx had eagerly handed to her. She had only hoped to change the subject away from her inevitable demise and had gotten more than she'd bargained for. This was, at least, much funnier than death.

Mickey had tried to hide her embarrassment about the book at first but now her face was so red it was near impossible. She couldn't think of a way to change the subject, in fact her mouth seemed filled with cotton. Things _had_ become far less awkward once Jinx had laid off of the _"oh you're going to die horribly and your life will be filled with misery and woe"_ nonsense. That was at least until Scarlett had asked about the ridiculous book sitting on the desk. She should've asked about the gossip magazine that Jinx had showed her earlier with Scarlett on the cover of it.

"A fishmonger actually." Jinx's eyes, which had once been creepy, were now alight with excitement. She wasn't so bad when she wasn't predicting Scarlett's death. In fact, Scarlett was rather enjoying her company. It seemed that Jinx's filter was a little damaged or nonexistent, either way, it amused Scarlett to no end.

"Isn't that the same thing? I'm a little rusty on my fishing terminology."

"Well, by definition all they have to do is sell fish to be a fishmonger. Fishermen do the fishing." Jinx explained waving her own copy of the book around. The one that Scarlett had taken was the copy she'd picked up to give to Mickey. It seemed as though the two had a very strange, very _naughty_ book club. Jinx seemed to be trying to convince Scarlett to join it. Scarlett, on the other hand, was mostly amused.

"_Jinx…_" Mickey hissed under her breath and threw her a look. She hoped she could stop the conversation before it continued. "I don't think that Miss Damien wants…"

"This man is _clearly_ fishing this woman out of the ocean and into his lusty embrace. There's a fishing net. He's obviously got some fishing experience." Scarlett turned the cover around so that Jinx could take a look. Jinx scrutinized the art and then nodded her head in approval to agree.

"You are correct. I guess he is also a fisherman." Jinx relinquished to reason.

"Either that or he's a really terrible fisherman. I mean he did catch a woman. She is clearly not a fish. Not even a hint of a tail there. I mean I guess it's possible she's part mermaid…"

"She's not, that would be an _amazing_ twist though!" Jinx gripped the book tight in her hands and opened her mouth to speak but was instantly interrupted by Mickey.

"I think that we could argue semantics over this all day long, but it's still _just_ a smut novel. They don't have to make sense, they are what they are!" Mickey stole the book from Scarlett's hands and shoved it back into Jinx's in hopes of avoiding further embarrassment. However, she had every intention of returning for the book later.

She really wanted to know if the woman turned out to be a mermaid now in the end.

"Aw, I wanted to see how dirty it got in there. What words they used to avoid saying dick, ya know? How many expletives she avoided crying out in the _throes_ of passion." Scarlett smirked, amused more than anything at how sheepish Mickey was about the book. Mickey's face turned red again. It had finally begun to recover. Not so much anymore.

"You should check out page 95, it's steamy. The wording's a bit rough but it gets the point across." Jinx's eyes sparkled playfully as she picked the book back up and made a motion to hand it back to Scarlett.

"I think we're supposed to be working, okay?" Mickey pleaded with her friend silently that she'd stop embarrassing her in front of someone who she was now supposed to work with on a regular basis. She _knew_ Scarlett was teasing them, even if Jinx didn't seem to get that she was. Taking the book away from Jinx before Scarlett could grab it, she hid it behind her back so it would be out of sight.

"Pierce!" Coulson called from down the hall, drawing their attention away from the naughty book in Jinx's hands. She'd picked up her personal copy when Mickey had snatched the other. Instantly Jinx put the book down on her desk upside down and out of view from the other agents. It was common knowledge that Jinx enjoyed those books in her free time, even if Mickey wasn't as obviously open about it. Still, Phil Coulson had said if he saw one more book on her desk where a man's pants were ill fitting then he was going to have to do something about it. Jinx was curious about _what_ he would do but also didn't want to be banned from reading at work. "Bennett!" He was smiling, so they expected good news.

Down the hall after him came Tony Stark, his jacket hung over his forearm and his hands in his pants pockets. Scarlett looked genuinely surprised to see him and hoped that she didn't show any of the worry she immediately felt. The last thing she wanted was to have _this_ argument in front of her new coworkers. They'd already gotten a weird enough impression of her. She had a distinct feeling that she was going to be known as some kind of bad omen now, at least to Jinx. Much to everyone's surprised Natasha Romanoff trailed behind the two men, her arms folded over her chest and a sour look on her face. Scarlett could hear Mickey and Jinx whispering about Agent Romanoff before Coulson came within earshot.

"Yes, Coulson?" Jinx made a poor attempt to appear innocent while Mickey looked overly alert, her cheeks still burning red. Scarlett walked past Coulson while he spoke to his Agents and closer to Tony but not close enough for him to easily grab her. Everything they said in this hallway would be said loud enough for everyone to hear. She hoped this would prevent Tony from starting an argument. Then again, Tony seemed not to have as much concern with what others thought as she did. Still, there was no harm in trying to keep their personal problems personal.

"What are you doing here Tony?" She asked discreetly, not wishing to interrupt Coulson with whatever he was talking about to his agents, though it sounded like he was talking about her. Scarlett figured if it was important he would ask her to pay attention. He didn't.

"I could ask _you_ the same thing." Tony narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, accusing her of lying about her plans for the day day without saying anything at all. Scarlett returned the glare, though she _did _feel guilty for having deceived him. She knew that if she'd told him where she was going he would've found a way to talk her into doing something else and it would've gotten put off again.

"You're up to something. Don't think I don't know that." Scarlett looked to Natasha who she caught smirking out of the corner of her eye. The Black Widow knew something she didn't know and seemed very eager to tell her what it was. She guessed that was why she was there in the first place. Tony instantly spoke over her and threw Natasha a wide eyed glance as if to dare her to step on his toes.

"We'll discuss it _later_." Tony narrowed his eyes at Natasha who narrowed her eyes in return.

"I have an office now apparently. We can discuss it right now privately." Scarlett nodded down the hallway and Tony froze. He then quickly shook his head.

"You're busy right now, _later._" He obviously didn't want to tell Scarlett _why_ he was there and Scarlett was more than willing to share why _she_ was. It wasn't like the reason she was there had been a secret. The only secret was that the meeting had been _today._ Unless Tony had been called in to do some work there was no reason for him to be at S.H.I.E.L.D. Scarlett was sure that he didn't want to tell her his reasons because he knew they would get him into trouble.

"I know you're up to something." Scarlett didn't take her blue eyes away from him even though Tony made every attempt to look at something other than Scarlett. She had this way of reading him when he was lying to her and he _hated_ it. While most times it benefited him that she could see through him to his true intentions this was _not_ one of those times. It was unfair; half the time when she was lying he hadn't the faintest clue. There were, of course, occasions when her eyes betrayed her but today was not one of those days. He could tell she was suspicious of him, if nothing else.

"Not now," Tony spoke but still avoided her gaze.

"Miss Damien. I trust that Mickey and Jinx have shown you the ropes around here." Coulson drew their attention away from each other but Scarlett let her glare linger just a little longer at Tony before addressing the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.

"Oh yes, they have gone above and beyond the call of responsibility… which I'm guessing was to keep me entertained while you were busy with my boyfriend." Scarlett took a step away from Tony but he followed her and she threw him another curious glance. He didn't want to discuss what was going on but he didn't want to leave her to her own devices either. There was no way he could act any more suspicious. He wanted to hear every word of what was about to happen. If Coulson told her she couldn't work for them then Tony was in _so_ much trouble.

"I'm glad to hear that." Coulson smiled at the two female agents who looked entirely surprised to hear Scarlett's opinion of them. When Coulson turned away they high fived and then drew their attention back to the matter at hand. Scarlett could've sworn she saw Mickey mark a page in the novel she'd hidden before slipping it onto Jinx's desk. "Now that you're officially a member of the team there are a few technical matters to discuss. Policy here dictates that you work with a partner while out on the field."

"You didn't mention that when we discussed the terms of our _arrangement_." Scarlett folded her arms over her chest. She didn't look at him, but Tony had the distinct feeling that had been directed at him. It wasn't the end of the world to have to work with someone else but Scarlett didn't necessarily find the idea appealing either. She worked her best when she was left to her own devices. If she was going to work with someone then they were going to have to realize that and give her the space she needed. Instantly she looked to Natasha in hopes that the woman would volunteer. But the Russian avoided her gaze and her scowl deepened.

"It slipped my mind given all your requests, but I trust it won't be a problem. You work with Tony well enough. If you can work with him then you can work with anyone."

"I'll take that as a compliment. But no, it shouldn't be a problem."

"I'm afraid that both Romanoff and Barton are currently unavailable to be assigned to you. Your new partner will be someone you've never met before and the selection process might take a bit longer because of the delicate nature of your skills. Unfortunately that means there won't be any fieldwork for you to do until your new partner has been properly assigned and arrangements have been made." Coulson was trying to hide his smile. The conflict in the room was obvious, it was almost comical. Poor Jinx and Mickey had absolutely no idea what the three heroes nearby were _really_ thinking.

"I don't know." Scarlett looked back to her friend again, trying to read her but discovering nothing. "Natasha doesn't look very busy right now, more nosy than anything else. And I'm pretty sure that Clint just finished a long term assignment with you." Though she wasn't outright saying it Scarlett _knew_ Tony had something to do with this arrangement. When they got home they had an awful lot to discuss. Tony couldn't interfere in her affairs behind her back, it was _not_ okay. She wouldn't do the same to him.

Though as she considered it she wasn't really sure how differently she'd respond to him walking into a dangerous situation. It was entirely possible she would go above and beyond to make sure he stayed out of harm's way. The only difference was that Scarlett was sure she would've been much quieter about it. Tony was looking at the ceiling now, desperately trying not to blink or give himself away but by doing so he was only incriminating himself further. It was almost comical.

"I'm afraid that's not an option. I will let you know when your new partner is ready to train with. You can, at any time, file a motion to change partners if things don't work out for you." Coulson continued, hoping he could get Scarlett to agree without too much arguing. The last thing he wanted was for the deal they'd made to fall through. It may have been nice to see Tony concerned about someone other than himself, but Coulson wasn't going to give up an opportunity to work with Scarlett just because he was worried about her. It was fun to see Tony squirm if nothing else.

"Fine." Scarlett agreed, much to everyone's surprise. Even Jinx and Mickey were amused to see that she wasn't putting up a fight. It didn't seem in her nature considering how much they'd known about her from the files they'd been given when she'd started causing trouble in Africa.

"Really?" Phil and Tony spoke in unison, completely shocked that they wouldn't have to argue further about it.

"If I can't have Romanoff or Barton then how about Mickey?" Scarlett nodded to the brunette leaning against the desk whose eyes widened. Her face went pale as everyone turned toward her. At that point she had just been enjoying watching the drama unfold like it was a good soap opera. "She's perfectly capable and it looks like she's cooped up in the office during most of her employment here." Scarlett continued when no one else seemed to respond to the offer. Mickey was completely flustered and unsure of how to respond. There was a mixture of fear and confusion in her eyes. Eventually it was replaced with excitement the more she turned over the idea in her mind.

"Yeah!" Mickey cleared her throat and hoped that maybe she could tone her enthusiasm down just a little bit. It had taken her a few minutes to realize what a grand adventure it could be to go on assignments with Scarlett. She'd seen the woman at work from afar and didn't think there could be a better way to tackle fieldwork than with someone who knew what they were doing and well at that. "I'm not working on anything specific right now. I'm definitely available if I can get the approval." Mickey was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet trying to hide how pleased she was for the opportunity. She had, at first, thought that Scarlett hadn't been fond of her in the least. Now she was sure that the woman had simply been misread! Why else would she volunteer her? Unless it was some kind of a cruel joke.

"Miss Pierce is _not_ a field agent. Unfortunately so she's off limits." Phil looked away from Mickey as she mentally deflated. Opportunity had slipped so quickly from her grasp. Jinx reached over the desk to pat Mickey on the shoulder. Tony seemed somewhat relived too. After the masquerade that had gone awry, before he'd been dating Scarlett, where Mickey's fiancé had been killed. He was hoping to avoid putting Mickey into any further danger because of them. Not because he had a personal attachment to her but because he didn't want them causing her any further strife.

"Why not?" Scarlett glanced behind Phil to Mickey who was practically leaning against the desk due to the weight of her disappointment. She obviously wanted to be a field agent so why wasn't she? Scarlett knew something was up with Mickey's situation but had never had the opportunity to bring attention to it until now.

"She's currently not trained for fieldwork. The time and finance it would take to prepare her to work alongside you wouldn't be…" Phil started on what was a promising rant and sounded rehearsed. It was obvious that others had asked the same thing about Mickey.

"_Seriously?_ This woman has been practically bred to be a field agent since her youth." Everyone turned to look at Scarlett in awe and Mickey's jaw was practically on the floor. No one had ever argued on her behalf before, especially not anyone involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. Her cheeks turned red again with embarrassment when she realized that Phil was looking at her suspiciously as though she had put Scarlett up to it when she was just as surprised as he was. "You're going to argue that it's not fiscally reasonable?"

"What makes you think that, Miss Damien? Your contact with Miss Pierce has been very limited to say the least. There have been very few opportunities for you to see just how prepared she is. I assure you if she was ready to be a field agent then she would already be one." Mickey turned her gaze away and almost asked Jinx if this was really happening.

"She has aced every test she's been given. Physically and mentally she's more than prepared to be a field agent. She'll probably be a little skittish at the start but that's only because you've obviously left her feeling defeated by not promoting her for so long. How long have you been working here, Mickey? Honestly, why can't she be my partner? If there was ever a time to send her out into the field isn't this the best opportunity? You know I'll keep her safe while she learns the ropes." Scarlett could feel Tony's eyes boring a hole through her but she wasn't sure if he was ogling her or becoming irritated by her insistence on going through with this S.H.I.E.L.D. thing.

"How the hell does she know that?" Mickey whispered under her breath, more to Jinx than anyone else. Jinx shrugged. "How the hell do you know that?" She spoke louder, walking away from the desk so she could approach Scarlett. But the fiery brunette was too busy having a stare down with Coulson who seemed to be tossing the words over in his mind.

"How _do_ you know that?" Jinx walked around her desk so she could better participate in the conversation. Scarlett smiled knowingly. The answer was obvious and if they couldn't figure it out she didn't feel the need to explain it to them.

"You went through S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel files." Coulson whispered mostly to himself. If Scarlett didn't know better she could've sworn he'd smiled for a second and seemed proud of her. Everyone else in the room began muttering their suspicions except for Mickey who stared slack jawed at Scarlett who was still smiling at Coulson. "Hill," He picked up his radio and spoke into it to the woman on the other end. "I need you to look into our system and see if there was any unauthorized access to personnel files or security breaches that went ignored in the past two weeks." He turned to look at his radio and ignored the bustle around him. Natasha was arguing with Tony about something in a hushed tone.

"Everything's in order, sir." The woman responded from the other end. "No unauthorized access, nothing changed." The radio continued to buzz with questions as to why he wondered, if he suspected a breach or if she should take action. Coulson placed his radio back down at his side and looked to Scarlett curiously.

"How did you manage to hack our computers without leaving a trace behind?" Coulson spoke through thin lips. Scarlett couldn't tell if he was angry or amused. Tony was standing behind her trying desperately not to laugh.

"Why are you so surprised?" Scarlett chuckled, resting her hands on her hips and giving him a meaningful look. "You're part of a dangerous, secret, and notoriously manipulative corporation. You're asking _me_ to work with you. Did you really think that after what MedCo did to me I wasn't going to take every precaution necessary against you?" If Scarlett had simply looked into MedCo's background a little deeper she could've prevented one hell of a tragedy in her life, but instead she'd taken their offer at face value and trusted the man who had offered her that job. For that she had paid dearly and continued to pay for it up until that day. She was sure she would pay for her blind trust until the day she died.

"That's different."

"How exactly?" Scarlett interrupted, looking back at Natasha who seemed neutral to the conversation. "How is it any different? They claimed to be helping people just like you claim to be. I thought they were benevolent and I'm not taking any risks like that again. You've practically been shoving dangerous jobs down my throat without my permission. What did you expect to happen? You should have known that I was going to do everything within my power to make sure I wasn't being fooled again." Scarlett didn't understand what the big deal was even though the others around her seemed to be waiting for the axe to drop. "No one's going to lie to me again, Coulson. Not even S.H.I.E.L.D."

Stunned silence followed her announcement. Mickey was still reeling that she had passed every test she'd taken with flying colors. Why hadn't anyone told _her _that?

"That still didn't answer my question." Coulson finally managed to speak. Breaking into S.H.I.E.L.D. files gave them the opportunity to arrest Scarlett but he quickly voted against it. She had barely agreed to work for them, arresting her would very quickly put her on the outs with them. Scarlett was a very powerful ally but an even more powerful enemy.

"After hacking into Jarvis and through Stark Industry security your system was a breeze. Tony's personal firewall was far worse than this." Scarlett gestured toward where Tony stood behind her. All eyes turned to Tony who shrugged his shoulders in response. After the first time Scarlett had fallen into his bed she had seized the opportunity to disable Jarvis' security feature and dig through Tony's business and personal files in search of answers. The end result had put her on the outs with Tony and Pepper but it had also proved Tony's innocence to her. She had suspected he'd been funding MedCo's operations and providing them with weapons and technology.

She had been wrong.

"I try not to think about that." Tony looked away but the memory burned in the back of his mind. It had been the cause of their first _real_ fight and he had felt betrayed at the time. Even if he understood her motives now he was still hard pressed to admit that he had been bested by a woman who had lured him into bed.

"I don't know about how things would've played out for you if you had hacked into MedCo's files Miss Damien but we are _not_ MedCo. We have protocols that need to be followed and…"

"Oh, stop the act." Scarlett rolled her eyes and pointed an accusing finger at him. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is just as full of double standards as every other nasty company is. You manipulate the cards in the drawer so that they're stacked against the peons below you in hopes of using it to your advantage later in the game. Even with me, I'm sure that there's a prison cell somewhere nearby to put me in if I ever get out of line. Same with Tony, same with Natasha. You're prepared for _every_ outcome. Well, so am I. I don't leave things to chance. I don't leave things to fate. So either arrest me or drop it."

"It doesn't change the fact that there are rules we _all_ must follow in order for S.H.I.E.L.D. to function as a unit. If everyone's spying on each other we're not really going to function well, are we?" Phil argued. It wasn't like he agreed with everything that S.H.I.E.L.D. did, but it was his job to enforce the rules.

"Those rules provide a double standard that leans heavily in S.H.I.E.L.D. favor." Scarlett bickered. Tony nodded to agree over her shoulder. He was glad that no one was yelling at _him,_ he'd been yelled at enough today. He agreed whole heartedly with Scarlett and had argued this many times with Phil. It didn't matter; they had to follow the rules. It was part of how S.H.I.E.L.D. functioned and while Tony had eventually realized the fight was fruitless he knew that Scarlett wasn't going to let it go so quickly. Then again, they _had_ manipulated Scarlett far more in the last year than they had ever tried to manipulate him.

"How so?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. pried into my life and my history with no regards for the secrecy I needed or my safety." Scarlett dared him to fight against that. "When I was pursuing MedCo you followed. By following you compromised my location again and again. You found people from my past and used them to manipulate me further! How is _that_ fair? Hmm? Just because I don't have a big fancy office and a set of rules for other people to follow when they're in my presence means you can stick your fingers into my life and stir the pot?" Phil was about to respond but Natasha stepped next to Scarlett and spoke quietly but purposely. Generally when Natasha spoke everyone listened.

"It's true. I was the one who located her old contact in India. You turned him in order to protect her. He was reluctant. You changed his entire life in order to get him involved."

"The key word is _protect_."

"Protect someone who didn't want your protection, you mean?" Mickey finally found her words again. Her head was still spinning. Coulson looked at her as if to dare her to continue. "I followed her all over the place and let me tell you Pluto hates flying." Mickey was very close with her golden retriever and had brought him almost everywhere with her. "She didn't want the help. She practically _ran_ at the sight of me, at the sight of any S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"Saying it was '_for her own good_' is not a viable excuse." Natasha shook her head. "I agreed to it only because she was my friend and I was concerned with the way things were being handled."

"Aw, thanks." Scarlett nudged Natasha who finally cracked a smile.

"The reason they found her in Senegal was because you dispatched me there." Mickey frowned, recalling all too well having her transmission interrupted. "We didn't even send her back up after that. She could've died because we were being followed." Scarlett looked to Mickey in surprise, this information being clearly brand new to her. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has good intentions but often the road paved by us is filled with deceit and unnecessary manipulation. So her breaking into our systems to read some files doesn't seem to have much relevance in the scheme of things."

"There have to be consequences for everything. And I agree that what we did in order to eventually help Miss Damien…" Coulson argued but something about him showed his heart wasn't in it.

"God if I hear Miss Damien one more time. Call me Scarlett already." She groaned.

"That's how I felt every time you called me Stark… just throwing that out there." Tony looked up at the others who had obviously heard him despite that he'd leaned down to whisper in her ear. There had been a time where she had only ever used his last name in a pathetic attempt to keep from growing attached to him. That had obviously worked very well for her. "What?"

"I have a bad feeling." Jinx spoke quietly but somehow drew everyone's attention. Her face was pale and she looked sick to her stomach. Scarlett rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She was wondering if Jinx ever had good feelings about anything. Coulson, Mickey and Natasha seemed to brace themselves for something to happen around them but only silence followed.

"Who the hell is this?" Tony whispered to Scarlett and she leaned her head away from him.

"You are spitting in my ear." She whispered in return and Tony curled his lips in a grin when she swatted him. "Don't start." Tony pouted but then turned to the others who were staring at them.

"I know what you're all thinking." Tony broke the silence since no one else seemed to be willing to. "Don't get any ideas. I overhauled my system back home and it's impenetrable. Actually hacky-mchackerton over here has been testing it for flaws and weaknesses. If she can't get into it then neither can any of you." Tony looked at them all suspiciously, lingering a little longer on Natasha than on the others.

"Can we get back on topic please?" Coulson held a hand to his forehead. Why was it whenever Tony Stark showed up at S.H.I.E.L.D. he ended up with a massive headache? No wonder he had started carrying around aspirin. "Please?"

"Wasn't that on topic?" Tony placed his hands on Scarlett's hips and looked to her quizzically.

"We've been through this, Tony." Despite still wanting to have a few strong words with him Scarlett couldn't help but smile. Mickey was consoling Jinx and assuring her everything was fine by the desk. Coulson went to speak again but stopped when Natasha held her hand up to silence him.

"Do you hear that?" She whispered. Everyone stood in silence and sure enough they heard something odd. There was a low rumbling somewhere below the building. It wasn't much and could've been anything, but still it was there.

"I have a bad feeling." Jinx grabbed onto Mickey's arms to get her to stop consoling her but Mickey was no longer paying attention.

"Come to think of it, so do I." Scarlett turned to look at Tony over her shoulder. The lights flickered overhead and then went out, the hum of electricity completely fading leaving them with the ability to hear the rumbling as it grew louder.

As menacing as the rumbling was it was soon drowned out by the jingling of hanging lights overhead. A gentle sway of the building urged the lights to swing harder. Then the floor began to shake and tremble. Tony grabbed Scarlett and pulled her closer, bracing himself against the wall nearby.

"Get down!" Coulson shouted but his voice was drowned out by an earsplitting shriek of metal against stone.


End file.
